


The Lost Potter

by nerdzeword



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bisexual Harry Potter, Harry has a little sister, In which I play fast and loose with both history, M/M, and harry potter lore, dumbledore is forced to answer for his crimes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-08-14
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:56:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 24,859
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23406391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdzeword/pseuds/nerdzeword
Summary: Harry is still reeling from his godfather's death when he stumbles his way into a friendship that challenges his ideals, reveals several long kept secrets, and could even turn the outcome of the war.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter, Theodore Nott/Harry Potter
Comments: 25
Kudos: 291
Collections: Primus Inter Pares





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Right. So here's the thing. I was never actually planning on sharing this because it is VERY self indulgent on my part, and I keep using it to flex my weird niche knowledge of history and folklore. But on the other hand, I've been working on this off and on for like two years now, and would like someone other than myself to read it, so here we are.
> 
> Because I am still working on it, I will try and update weekly, but it may be a bit between updates.  
> As always, I feed off of kudos, comments, and the screams of my enemies, so feel free to provide me with sustenance.

## Chapter 1

Harry had only been at the Dursley’s for a few days before he found himself wanting to leave again. His Aunt and Uncle weren’t as bad as they had been in previous years, but Harry was still reeling from Sirius’ death and the middle of muggle Surrey was the last place he wanted to be. It didn’t help that despite Dudley no longer bothering him, he still didn’t stop his friends from bothering Harry either.

At least he was able to get letters from Ron and Hermione again. Not that they actually said much of anything interesting. Nothing that cut through the fog that had filled his head since Sirius’ death- nothing that had made him feel. To say his godfather’s death was hitting him hard would be an understatement. He alternated between not being able to sleep and sleeping away entire days. Even when he was out of bed, he felt lethargic, like there was a force physically pulling him down. 

To combat this, he went to the park. It wasn’t a very big park, nor a particularly interesting one. But it was better than staring at the walls of his bedroom for hours at a time, so every morning he would get up and make the short trek to the park, where he would sit on one of the too small swings and contemplate his existence. The downside of this was of course that Dudley’s friends always knew where to find him when they felt like bothering him.

“Hey four eyes!” Harry sighed and looked up at the boys approaching him. He noticed that Dudley hung back from the rest, though he made no move to stop them either. Just another day in paradise. 

“I have a name you know.”

“Is it stupid?” 

Harry wrinkled his nose at the boy. He still couldn’t remember any of their names, even after ten years of knowing the arses. “Truly you are a paragon of wit.”

“You think you’re better than us?”

“I think I'm tired of your pathetic attempts at bullying me, and would very much like to be left alone.” 

The tallest boy of the lot spat on him and the others laughed, before Dudley pulled them away with a glance at Harry that he would almost have interpreted as apologetic if it weren’t his cousin. After they had finally started in the opposite direction, Harry let his disgust show and wiped the spit off of his face with his sweatshirt sleeve. 

“Well that was rude. Are all muggles like that?” He jumped a bit and turned to see none other than Theodore Nott. Harry blinked a couple times as he registered the fact that one of his classmates, one of his pureblood classmates, was sitting next to him, on a tiny swing in a neighborhood park in the middle of muggle Surrey.

“Surprising me was rude. Are all wizards like that?” 

Theo grinned. “Touche,” he paused. “Seriously, what’s his deal? Because this may be one of my first times in the muggle world, but just about everyone else I’ve met has been pretty alright.”

“Dudley’s a dick. Well, his friends are anyway. He’s been weird recently.” Harry watched his cousin walk away with no small amount of confusion. 

“Right. Well Potter, since I have no idea where I am, and I have to be home in time for dinner, you’re going to help me find my way home.” 

Harry turned his attention back to Theo. He didn’t know much about him, other than that he was in Slytherin, and wasn’t one of Malfoy’s worshippers. He wondered if that was for good reasons or bad ones. He wondered if he would ever get to just be a normal fifteen year old kid and not have to question the intentions of every cute classmate that demanded his help. 

“And why should I do that?”

“Because you’re a hero, and I’m in distress?”

Harry’s lips quirked into a smile against his will. “Why were you out here in the first place instead of… wherever it is you rich purebloods go during the holidays.”

“My father doesn’t believe in the Holidays, so rather than spending yet another year moping around the manor, I thought I’d get to know my neighborhood. It’s not like I could go anywhere else, not with the trace still on me.” Theo shrugged. “So when did you start talking like that, with them?”

“What?”

“ _A paragon of wit_ , I’ve gone to school with you every day for five years and never heard you use that sort of vocabulary. You waxed almost poetic there Potter.” 

Harry snorted and stood up. “I hang out with Hermione Granger all the time. It had to have rubbed off on me eventually. Besides, I reckon you lose the dramatic effect if you use it all the time.”

“Fair.” They walked in silence for a moment. Harry really hoped they were going the right direction, because he didn’t actually have a clue where Theo lived.

“I didn’t know there was a magical community in Surrey?” he asked Theo tentatively. Anything to fill the silence.

“There’s not really. As far as I know, my family are the only ones in the area. Well, except you I guess. And I’m not even sure we count as a magical community. It’s just dad and I. But that’s not unusual really. If you look for it, there’s always at least one old family in any given area. It was a precaution of sorts, back in the middle ages. The old families were responsible for caring for the magical people in their district, and the manors would act as a sort of stronghold whenever they were in danger.” 

Harry stared at him. “Is that what the whole Sacred Twenty Eight thing is all about?”

Theo nodded “That’s what it was supposed to be about anyway. But the problem is that a lot of them, like my family for instance, lost a large portion of their population as people started moving closer to London to be near Diagon Alley. They kept the sense of superiority, without all of the responsibility.” 

Harry stopped walking and stared at him. “I doubt all this is common knowledge, so how do you know all this?”

“Well, the whole Sacred Twenty Eight thing is sort of a misnomer. It was actually written by my grandfather in the 30’s. Originally, there were actually somewhere between thirty and thirty nine lords- depending on what time period you look at- one for each of the traditional counties. When my grandfather wrote the so-called Pureblood Directory, he had to trace the genealogies of all of the original lords to do so. You’re one of them actually.”

“Huh. I wonder what county we were in charge of?”

“Well, if my research is to be believed, it would have been Gloucestershire. Which is interesting, because Glouchester was the muggle seat of power in the early 11th century.”

“I’d have thought that yours would have been Nottinghamshire.” Harry responded with a small grin. 

“Ha bloody ha. You’re so funny Potter.”

“Hang on Nott. Let's stop here for a moment.” Harry stopped in front of a little corner store, suddenly craving anything with sugar. 

“Why?” Theo asked curiously. 

“Why not?” was Harry’s response. “Come on, I’ll pay.”

He pushed the door open and held it for Theo. It wasn’t a very big store, but it had twinkies and energy drinks, which was all Harry needed in life really. Theo eyed everything with a critical eye before settling on a bottle of water. Harry rolled his eyes and grabbed a package of ding dongs and a fanta. Everyone liked orange soda right? He paid for everything and dug through the bag to find the fanta, handing it to Theo as they exited the store. 

“What’s this?” Theo asked, taking it.

“Orange soda. You don’t have to drink it if you don’t like it, but I thought you might want to try it if you’re serious about learning more about muggle stuff.” 

“Oh.” He stared at it for another minute before finally cracking it open and trying it. “What the fuck? Why is it fizzy?” Theo stared at the bottle like it offended him. Harry laughed. 

“That’s what soda is. Do you not like it?”

“I didn’t say that.” Theo took another drink of the soda and started leading them down the street, confirming what Harry had already known; Theo knew exactly how to get home, and had just wanted company. An hour ago, that would have infuriated him. Now, he just thought it was amusing. 

They talked about a little bit of everything as they walked, Harry occasionally stopping to pass out one of his snacks, or let Theo try his energy drink. He hadn’t liked the energy drink. 

They talked about what was different about their childhoods. Harry in his cupboard, Theo in his lonely mansion. Harry was surprised to discover that it didn’t hurt to talk about his cupboard anymore. If anything, he gave him fond memories. It was the first place that was his after all. 

They talked about the differences between magical and muggle sports, and Harry was surprised to discover that Theo didn’t like quidditch at all, but had enjoyed watching some kids playing football in the park. Harry personally thought he was mad. How did football even come close to comparing to the sheer exuberance that came from looking over the world from a broom? 

“Brooms are uncomfortable Potter, I don’t know how you haven’t figured that out yet. I don’t particularly care to fly around on a death trap at all. Let alone one that doesn’t even have the decency to be comfortable.” That had turned into a debate over what household items would make a more comfortable riding experience but still allow you to play the game properly.

They talked about everything but the war.

Harry had never been this comfortable talking to someone new before. Theo just sort of understood when he said that he didn’t like to feel like he was trapped, which was why he loves Quidditch so much. But at the same time, even the vastness of the Great Hall would sometimes bother him, and he’d have to take his dinner back to his room to eat in the safety of his curtained bed. Harry understood when Theo told him that the first spell he had ever mastered was silencio, because he would sometimes have to put up silencing charms because any sound at all was too much after living practically alone for most of his life. 

Not even Ron and Hermione had clicked with him the way he seemed to click with Theo. And with everything he explained, and everything he didn’t have to, Harry was forced to come to the uncomfortable realization that Theo might now know more about him than anyone else. 

Nothing important of course, he doubted Theo could do anything with the knowledge that Harry’s favorite class was Defense against the Dark Arts. Just like he could do nothing with the knowledge that Theo adored McGonagall, and frequently asked her for extra spells to practice.

A glance over at Theo had confirmed that he seemed to feel the same.

They reached the bottom of Theo’s unreasonably long drive and Harry discovered that he didn’t want whatever this moment with Theo was to end; but at the same time, it was terrifying. It was terrifying to know that Theo now looked at him and saw _him_ , not the savior of the wizarding world. There was something terrible and exhilarating about being able to say the same when he looked at Theo. 

“We should hang out again. This was... fun.” The word didn’t seem to fit, but Harry understood what he meant. He hated that he understood what he meant.

“Tell me Theodore. Why should I trust you?” Harry somehow managed to keep the words from coming out as a beg. He needed to know that he could trust him. He needed to know he wasn’t the only one who had felt that click; like he’d just found everything he’d never even thought to try and find.

“Because you’re as bored and lonely as I am. Because I have never given you any reason not to. Because the Dark Lord is back and you’re going to need every ally you can get. Because my dad has gone insane and you’re the only person who might believe that I’m not evil.” 

Harry eyed him suspiciously. He wanted to believe that Theo was everything he said, that he was honest and smart and brave and just enough of an asshole that Harry could tell exactly when he was being genuine. Like now.

“Nott…”

“I don’t know how I could possibly prove it to you Potter, I don’t know anything worth telling you about my dad or his plans, and I can’t do anything even remotely magical for another three months. So tell me what to do and I’ll do it, but Merlin Potter, stop treating me like the enemy.” 

Harry hadn’t thought of him as an enemy since before they had stopped at the corner store. He continued to watch him critically. Theo was right of course, he had done nothing to imply that he might be a threat, other than to be related to a death eater. But Harry had trusted so many people that let him down. Hell, even his best friends, as much as he loved them, had both left them for their own petty squabbles before.

“I want to trust you Nott. I do. But- but the world is going to shit, and the last thing I need is someone else who only wants to be friends because I’m famous and they think that being my friend somehow grants them immunity from evil. And it seems like everyone nowadays wants to kill me.” 

Theo snorted. “Being your friend is more likely to get people in trouble than grant them immunity. Anyone who has spent any amount of time watching you knows that much Potter.” 

“Are you saying you watch me Nott?” 

Theo’s cheeks colored slightly as he muttered out a negative. It was cute. Harry wasn’t sure what was coming over him. Sure, he had known for a while that he was at least somewhat interested in guys, but he had always thought it was in a more general sense, like he found them attractive, but never thought he would actually fancy one. Theodore Nott seemed to be the exception to a lot of rules. 

“Alright. I’ll give you a shot. But I’ll warn you now, I tend to make a habit of getting my friends into dangerous situations.” Theo grinned brightly and Harry was momentarily weakened. Merlin help him, he had only really known Theo for a few hours. 

“I look forward to it Potter.” Somehow the name didn’t fit right anymore.

“If we’re going to be friends, you can call me Harry.” Theo’s lips quirked into a smile

“Alright, call me Theo.”


	2. Chapter 2

##  Chapter 2

If Harry was worried about Theo finding him again, he shouldn’t have been. Harry had only been at the park for ten minutes before Theo rounded the corner. Harry noted that he was wearing a blazer and slacks. Now that he thought about it, Harry remembered he had been wearing something similar the day before. Merlin, did Theo own anything that didn’t come out of a prada shop? Harry decided that’s what they would be doing for the day. 

“Hey Po- Harry.” Theo greeted him awkwardly. Harry wondered if Theo had ever had a friend that wasn’t also a millionaire before. Harry wondered if Theo had ever had a real friend before. Judging by the way he looked around the neighborhood as if something were going to suddenly emerge from the bushes and bite him, Harry thought he probably hadn’t.

“Do you own any clothing that doesn’t cost more than my entire wardrobe combined?” Harry asked him seriously.

“That depends. How expensive is your wardrobe?”

“I’ll take that as a no. Come on. We’re going shopping.”

“For muggle clothes?”

“Muggle clothes are the same as wizard clothes, they just are from this century.” Harry retorted “I doubt wizard fashion has changed much since the 1800’s.” Theo shrugged

“Where are we going?”

“There’s a second hand shop around the corner.” Theo stopped short.

“Harry. Is a second hand shop what I think it is?” Harry continued walking and called back over his shoulder. 

“Probably!” Theo jogged to keep up with him. 

“Harry. I can’t wear clothes that have been worn by someone else.” Theo told him, looking a bit panicked.

“Why not?” Harry asked.

“I-” Theo thought about it for a moment but couldn’t seem to come up with a real retort.

“That’s what I thought. Come on. There’s some really cool stuff there sometimes.” They fell back into their easy back and forth, wiping away any fear Harry may have had that whatever it was that he’d felt with Theo the day before was only a one time thing- a fluke. He glanced back over at Theo from the corner of his eye, only to find him already staring back. 

“What? Is there something on my face?” Harry asked. Theo just shook his head and faced forward again. He had a small smile on his face though, so Harry thought that it probably wasn’t bad staring.

Theo was wearing muggle clothes. He was wearing hand me down muggle clothes. There was part of him that was sort of internally screaming. The rest of him was just appreciating that he had full use of his arms again. Theo had known that befriending Harry Potter would lead to some new experiences. He just hadn’t expected one of those experiences to take place on the second day of their friendship. 

He couldn’t even pretend to be mad about it though when he saw the look Harry had passed over him when he’d opened the fitting room door to show him the jeans and muggle band tee that Harry had thrown at him. The jeans were a bit long, but Theo liked them. They were soft, and comfortable, and they made _ Harry Potter _ give him a once over. Nothing else would ever top this moment.

Nothing could top that moment until Harry had found him a pair of sneakers a few minutes later anyway. Theo thought he could cry, sneakers were so much more comfortable than the oxfords he had worn ever since he could remember were. He could actually feel all of his toes. It was a miracle.

“There. Now you look almost like a real person.” Harry told him after he had put the shoes on. “You just need…” He trailed off as he scanned the racks, eyes finally settling on whatever it was he was looking for. He disappeared, only to reappear a moment later with a large flannel in hand.

“I was going to get you a different one, but it was a weird texture, so I found you this one instead.” Theo blinked at him. How had Harry already picked up on his weird sensory issues in the last hour, when his own father and tailor still hadn’t? He reached out to touch the flannel and grinned when he discovered it was really soft. That’s why he hadn’t removed the t-shirt he was wearing either. It was nice to feel the soft t-shirt fabric against his skin instead of the harsh texture of starched and pressed fabrics of his normal wardrobe. 

The green and blue flannel worked surprisingly well with the blues and reds in the spaceship on his t-shirt. Harry grinned at him, obviously pleased with his ensemble. The shirts had a weird smell, but Harry had assured him that it was just a temporary thing, and the smell would go away after he’d washed them a couple of times.

He spun around to look in the mirror. The sleeves of the flannel were a bit long, so they fell to cover most of his hand. That wasn’t a problem. If anything, Theo thought he might like that better than having perfectly sized sleeves. There was something comforting about being able to curl your hands all the way into your shirt sleeves. 

He brushed his hair back behind his ear. He hadn’t cut it since spring break, but he had decided he kind of liked it. When he glanced back up, he caught sight of Harry in the mirror. He was sitting on the bench in front of the fitting rooms, staring up at Theo with a soft smile on his face.

Theo had watched Harry from across the great hall for years, making note of every smile, every laugh, and every moment he looked like he was crumbling under the weight of the world. Theo had never seen the look that passed over Harry’s face just then. Not even when he was sitting with his best friends, or watching his team on the quidditch pitch. It was a look that made Theo feel like he was the center of the world. He locked eyes with Harry and gave him a small smile in return.

“Do you want to find a couple of other t-shirts to wear under things?” Harry asked, standing up. 

“Yes.” Theo was now the biggest fan of t-shirts. He would never- well he would definitely be wearing his normal clothing again, but he would be forever comparing all of them to the comfort of t-shirts. He found a couple others that he liked, but none of them were as soft as his weird alien band shirt. He would have to try and listen to the band sometime. Just in case. 

Harry paid for his clothes before he had the chance to remember that he hadn’t exchanged any of his money for muggle money. Harry grinned at him smugly.

“You can get the next time yeah?”

Theo hadn’t really considered what befriending Harry Potter might mean. Sure, he had thought about the fact that Harry put himself and his friends in danger regularly. Though it usually wasn’t entirely his fault. But Theo had never actually considered that they might do muggle things. Regular activities that people that weren’t theo had probably been doing their entire lives. 

“Come on Theo, I want to go to the lake.” Harry was usually the one to pick the tasks when they went adventuring. This was primarily because Theo was perfectly content to sit under a tree and read a book, partially because there were so many things that Theo had never experienced. They did just sit and read that sometimes. Or rather, he did. They would lay in the bushes under Harry’s living room window and Theo would read while Harry closed his eyes and listened to the football game on the tele inside. 

“The lake?” Theo asked dumbly. The last time he had been to a lake, he’d been eight and visiting Draco. They’d fed the ducks and pretended they had things in common.

“Sure. It’s hot. I want to go swimming.”

“I don’t have a swimsuit.” Theo responded, a bit dazed. Harry grinned at him.

“Who says you need one.” Whoever said Harry was a boring prude had obviously never actually met Harry Potter. He felt a bit faint. “I’m joking Theo, we can just strip to our pants, yeah?” Theo nodded along

“Yeah, okay sure.” Apparently he was going swimming.

Theo had been swimming on multiple occasions. Most of them were trips to Blaise’s summer home in Tuscany. It turned out that swimming in a lake was very different than swimming in a pool. 

For one, you couldn’t really go barefoot because the rocks on the bottom of the lake would slice your feet. And swimming at the pool had never held the risk of drowning because he was too busy staring at Harry Potter to remember to tread water. Theo couldn’t help it though. Harry looked completely different in the middle of a lake with his hair slicked straight from the weight of the water, and his glasses tucked safely into his clothes on the shore. 

Harry laughed and Theo couldn’t breathe, let alone move. Fuck Harry Potter honestly.

“Race you across the lake!” Harry called, knocking Theo from his thoughts. He sprang into action, his competitive nature overriding his gay panic. Theo won, but not by much. 

The two of them wandered back into town sometime around four and Theo was sort of dreading having to go back home for dinner. In a couple of weeks he would be able to stay out as late as he wanted because his father would be out doing whatever it was that evil sociopaths did, and Theo would have the house to himself. He could not wait.

Harry took his glasses off and shook his head to get the water out of his hair, spraying water all over Theo in the process.

“Hey!” Harry just stuck his tongue out at him, so Theo did what any other normal teenager would do. He wrung out his own hair over Harry’s head. The sound of Harry’s laughter would haunt him for days afterwards.

“You have an hour right?” Harry asked him when he had calmed down. Theo nodded in confirmation.

“Wanna go to the arcade?”

“...What the fuck is an arcade.” Harry laughed and grabbed him by the wrist to pull him along. The building was relatively inconspicuous, tucked between a little breakfast shop and a laundromat. Harry led him inside and Theo marveled at the rows and rows of machines.

“Right. So all of these are coin operated, so we have to get some coins.” Harry led him to a different machine, where he inserted a 10 pound note. His eyes widened when coins started pouring out of the bottom. Harry scooped them all into a cup and handed it to Theo.

“Okay, so what do you want to play?” Theo looked at all of the different machines and shrugged helplessly. Harry just laughed and took his hand. To lead him in the direction of what looked like some shooter games. He assumed they were shooter games anyway, they had brightly colored muggle guns attached. 

Harry had been grabbing his hand more and more over the course of the last week, and Theo  _ knew  _ that it only felt like he was going to melt because he was touch starved and Harry was cute. But it didn’t change the fact that even the slightest bit of pressure on his hand or wrist and Theo was rendered a useless mess.

It turned out that Theo was incredibly good at Skeeball. He was hit or miss at everything else, but Harry hadn’t seen him get lower than a 40 on Skeeball since his first round.

“It’s just math Harry.” Theo told him, as he got yet another 50. As if that made it any less impressive. As if Theo hadn’t just broke the arcade skeeball record in fifteen minutes. 

“Just math.” Harry echoed hotly. Theo just shot him that devastating grin again and continued playing. He’d been doing that more and more the last couple of days. He’d give Harry a bright grin from the top of whatever tree Harry had goaded him into climbing. Or get a small smile when Harry said something he found especially amusing. Harry hadn’t seen him give a real laugh yet but he bet that it would be beautiful. Everything Theo did was beautiful, and Harry had no idea how he’d never noticed before. 

He remembered looking at Theo when he was in third year and thinking Theo looked a little mousy. That certainly wasn’t the case anymore. Theo had grown into himself in the last few years, gaining at least six inches so he now towered over Harry, and a firm set to his shoulders that made him look older than he actually was. 

And the hair.

Harry loved Theo’s hair. It was nearly to his shoulders, just as thick as Harry’s and had the smallest bit of a wave to it, so it sort of always looked like it was floating. It looked soft and silky and Harry was constantly having to resist the urge to run his fingers through it. He thought he might cry if Theo decided to cut it before school started again.

A movement caught Harry’s eye, and he noticed some of Dudley’s friends walk into the arcade. He grabbed Theo’s hand and pulled him behind one of the machines. He didn’t know why he kept grabbing Theo’s hand like this, using his words would have worked just as well. But there was something about the way their hands slotted together that Harry loved, and, well, Theo hadn’t complained yet. 

“What are you-” 

“Shhh.” Harry admonished him, peeking over the top of the machine. When they had finally moved to the other side of the arcade and he was sure they wouldn’t notice his escape, Harry pulled Theo towards the door. It wasn’t until they got outside that Harry realized that he hadn’t actually let go of Theo’s hand once.

“What was that all about?” Theo asked. He didn’t let go of Harry’s hand either. Maybe this was something friends just did? Harry couldn’t remember if he’d ever held hands with Ron or Hermione before. He decided it didn’t matter. Whatever he had going with Theo was different than what he had with Ron and Hermione anyway. 

“I saw some of Dudley’s friends and didn’t want to deal with them.” Harry explained. Theo blinked at him as if he couldn’t understand what Harry was saying to him. Then he grinned a slow, cheshire smile.

“I knew it. You’re just mad that I’m better than you at skeeball.” Harry rolled his eyes and knocked their shoulders together. 

“You caught me. That’s what it was.” They started walking in the general direction of Theo’s house like they had every day so far, and Theo was quiet for a moment.

“Why do you do that?” he finally asked

“Do what?”

“I dunno- Hide yourself? Why does no one else see this part of you?” Theo gestured at Harry in general, and HArry didn’t think he was imagining the hesitation over their intertwined hands. Harry’s head tilted to the side and he watched Theo try to grasp the words he was looking for.

“What part.” Theo continued to struggle to get his thoughts in order, but Harry just waited patiently. Words were hard sometimes.

“The funny part. The sarcastic part. the- the  _ real  _ part.” Harry looked back at the road and resisted the urge to put his hands in his pockets. Only because he’d have to let go of Theo’s hand.

“No one wants the real me.” He could feel Theo watching him, but didn’t turn to look.

“I do.” Harry wanted so many things at that moment. He wanted to scream at the sky, he wanted to cry, he wanted to hug Theo, or kiss him. He wanted, he wanted, he wanted.

He did none of those things. He just continued walking. Continued holding Theo’s hand. 

And that was enough.


	3. Chapter 3

##  Chapter 3

Harry stared at them from across the living room. His dad was making sparks with his wand and Harry giggled happily. 

“Gen! Gen!” Harry cheered, delighted by the bright colors and flashing lights. His mother laughed and put her hand on his father’s arm to stop him. 

“That’s enough of that James. You’re getting him all worked up for nothing! Come on Eanraig, àm leabaidh!” Harry started to cry as his mother picked him up. “Shhhh Harry love, how about I sing you a song?” Harry nodded weepily as she set him down in the crib and began to stroke his cheek.

“Gille beag ò, leanabh lag ò, Gille beag ò, nan coarach thu;” She began to sing and Harry could feel himself having to fight off sleep. ”Gille beag ò, gille lag ò,Gille beag ò nan caorach thu.” Harry was barely awake when she got to the end. 

“Gille nan caorachan, gille nan caorachan, Gille nan caorachan, gaolach thu.…”

  
  


Harry woke up with a start. The dreams weren’t bad by any means. If anything, they were pleasant. But there was something a bit disturbing about them, rolling just beneath the surface. Harry thought they were a bit too _ real _ . They were like the dreams he’d gotten of tom the year before, except even more detailed if at all possible. A part of him wondered if this was an omen for something horrible coming. That these dreams were somehow a punishment for being happy. And he was.The last few weeks he’d spent with Theo were the happiest Harry had ever been at the Dursleys. And wasn’t that a surprising thought.

Harry clambered out of bed. He’d had the dreams every night for the past week and a half. He needed to get away, do something to get his mind off of the feeling of change that was looming on the horizon.

He shoved a spare pair of swim trunks into his backpack as he walked out the door, having learned from the last time. Harry didn’t think that he could handle Theo in only a pair of pants right now. 

Theo was wearing the outfit they’d bought the first day when Harry met him in the park. It looked just as good on him now as it had in the second hand shop. He also had a bag slung over his shoulder and Harry wondered what Theo had planned, that he had felt the need to bring his bag. He didn't ask though.

“What’s the plan today?” Theo asked as they fell into step. 

“We’re going to the beach.” Theo just nodded. It wasn’t the first time they had taken the train to some distant part of the country. They’d taken a day trip to Stonehenge the week before, and Theo had nearly gotten arrested by the Muggle police for trying to climb the rocks. 

“Why the beach?” Theo asked Harry just shrugged. He hadn’t told Theo about the dreams yet. He hadn’t even told Ron and Hermione. The only person he thought he might have told was Sirius, but he obviously couldn’t do that anymore. He probably would though. If anyone would understand it would be Theo. Probably. He’d understood everything else about harry anyway.

“Why not the beach?’ Harry responded with a teasing grin. Theo grinned back in response. Harry didn’t know why it still caught him off guard and stole his breath every time it happened. Theo had been smiling more and more over the last few weeks, and Harry wasn’t sure if it was because he was free of his stifling house, or because he was just having fun for once. He liked to think that he would have noticed Theo sooner if he had smiled more in school. But Harry knew deep down that wouldn’t have been the case. For better or worse, Theo had changed him.

They had to double back and take a train to London first in order to reach the Southern line to Brighton, but that actually worked out better, as Harry finally had the opportunity to drag Theo to one of the excellent Indian restaurants near Clapham station.

“Holy shit, this is amazing. How have I never had this before Harry?”

“Because wizards are unsurprisingly narrow minded and xenophobic.” Harry responded dryly. But he smiled into his curry. It was nice having someone else to share this small piece of him with. 

Harry had never really known anything about his parents. His aunt liked to pretend they didn’t exist, and the only things his uncle had to say about them were terrible and categorically false. So Harry had done what he could with what little he had to go on. He’d learned what he could about his father’s Indian heritage from what little he could find in the school library, and ate at Indian restaurants whenever he had the chance. 

Harry craved anything that might bring him closer to the family he had never known. Longed for any piece he could find to fit into the puzzle that was the blank canvas of his family history. It wasn’t enough really, it would never be the same as having a real family to teach him about his heritage, or explain why some of the kids at school hated him more than others. 

It wasn’t until he met the Patil twins that he had ever met someone else that was even close to looking like him. But even then it wasn’t the same. He couldn’t even talk to them about his heritage and culture, because he didn’t know any of it, and with every year that passed, the more he felt like it was too late to possibly catch up. 

When they finally made it to the beach, three hours after they had set out form Surrey, it was mid afternoon, and Harry was already sort of regretting his decision to go to the beach, as the weather itself was pleasant, if a bit hot, but the sharp sea breeze was colder than he expected. Theo obviously didn’t have the same reservations, as he quickly shucked off his shirt. Harry threw his spare swim trunks at him before he had the chance to shimmy out of his jeans as well. 

“Oh. What’s this? We’re actually prepared today Potter?” Theo teased, but pulled the trunks on over his pants anyway.

“If only it were this simple to prepare for everything else in my life.” Harry lamented. Theo laughed and waited for Harry to finish tugging off his own shirt before pulling him towards the waves. 

The water was frigid. Harry couldn’t understand why it was so cold, but he hated it nonetheless. He could feel Theo staring at him, but since he had left his glasses on the shore, he couldn’t quite catch him in the act. Harry wondered if he would have the courage to do something about it, even if he did catch him. He honestly wasn’t sure.

They didn’t stay in the water for long, the sea breeze and the icy water made it unbearable to stay in for too long, but they were able to occupy themselves with building sand castles, and when those collapsed, burying one another instead. Harry wasn’t sure when he fell asleep, somewhere between Theo pulling a blanket from his mysterious bag, which almost certainly had some sort of extension charm on it, and pulling out his book. It didn’t matter really, one minute Harry was sitting on one side of Theo’s blanket, with the sand pleasantly heating the bottoms of his bare feet through the fabric, and the next he was dreaming.

“James Fleamont Potter! What have I told you boys about riding the broom in the house!?” Lily scolded her husband, who was standing next to a far more terrified Sirius Black, holding Harry in his arms. 

“But Lils, it’s nearly dark, and he’s almost got it! One day this kid is going to be captain of the Gryffindor quidditch team!” James' voice was proud and excited.

“He is 13 months old James! He can’t even walk properly! He’s not going to be doing anything of the sort for at least another eleven years! Now would you please put the death trap away and come eat? Sirius, are you eating dinner with us?”

“Nah, I should probably get back to headquarters. You guys take care though yeah? I’ll see you later. Bye Harry!” Sirius tickled Harry’s belly, making him giggle, and gave both James and Lily hugs before slipping out the front door. Lily took Harry from James and he kissed the top of her head before leading her back into the kitchen. 

When Harry woke up it was nearly dark and his head was resting on Theo’s shoulder. Theo had his wand out and was using it to read by. Harry assumed that he had checked for muggles. He wasn’t really all that inclined to move, Theo’s shoulder was bony and uncomfortable, but it also meant that the rest of Harry was pressed up against his side, and the warmth Theo was radiating was slowly lulling him back to sleep. Pretty soon, Theo would realize he was awake though, so Harry slowly pulled himself into a sitting position, and shuffled so he could see Theo’s entire face, which meant he was sitting with his right thigh pressed against the length of Theo’s left.

“Good morning.” Theo said dryly, putting down his book. Harry could hear the undercurrent of worry that laced his words however and he gave a small smile in return.

“Have you been reading this whole time?”

“Reading and drinking, yup.” Harry blinked as Theo held up a red solo cup. 

“Where did you- You know what, I don’t want to know. Are you going to share?” It was a rhetorical question, as Theo was already reaching for the bottle. 

“Only if you play a drinking game with me.” Harry blinked, but agreed easily enough.

He didn’t know where Theo had gotten a hold of the alcohol, or even what kind of alcohol it was, something strong with a bit of kick at any rate. The red solo cups he’d brought were also not the method of distribution Harry would have chosen. (He tried not to think about the fact that he would very much rather be drinking it straight from Theo’s lips.) Despite all that though, Harry couldn’t find it in himself to complain. He was sitting next to a hot boy in the sand, legs pressed together at the thigh, and drinking alcohol that was certainly better than the cheap brandy that his Uncle Vernon always bought.

Although Theo’s choice in games was a bit questionable. 

“Truth or dare?” Theo asked boldly, already a bit tipsy.

“What are we, twelve?” Harry asked, amused.

“Truth or Dare Potter.”

“Dare.” 

Theo smirked “I dare you to play the rest of this game shirtless.” Harry rolled his eyes but pulled off his shirt anyway. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t just spent the entire day in just a pair of swim trunks. He ignored Theo’s intoxicated eyes roaming his chest. 

“Truth or Dare Nott.” Harry followed Theo’s lead in using his last name. Theo jolted out of his stupor and thought for a moment. 

“Truth.” Harry had to think about it, he’d kind of been expecting Theo to follow him in using dare.

“What is your greatest fear.” Theo looked at him curiously, but didn’t seem thrown by the personal question.

“Becoming my father.” the boys just stared at one another

“Well, I’d say you’re off to a good start.” Harry responded, trying to lighten the mood. “I doubt he’d have played childish drinking games with me.” Theo grinned at him and took another shot of whatever was in his cup.

“That’s a sight we’ll never get to see. Truth or Dare Potter?” Harry considered doing dare again, but he had a feeling that Theo would probably make him remove his swim trunks as well.

“Truth.”

“Have you ever kissed a boy?” Harry watched Theo carefully. His expression was guarded and Harry had a feeling that there was a lot more to the question than he was seeing.

“No.” 

“Would you like to?”

“That’s more than one question.” Harry pointed out. Theo just looked annoyed. Harry grinned and leaned closer to Theo. “Only if  _ you’re _ offering.” he said in a stage whisper. He wasn’t sure where his bold streak had come from, but Harry planned to ride it as long as possible. 

Theo apparently thought the same thing, because after only a second of processing, He had his hands around Harry’s jaw and was pulling him into a near desperate kiss. His cup was sent rolling across the sand, completely abandoned. 

Harry kissed him back with just as much passion, letting the taste of alcohol on Theo’s tongue consume him. Unlike Cho, whose lips were always soft, probably due to the strawberry flavored chapstick she always wore, Theo’s were chapped and caught on Harry’s like little teeth. Harry decided he liked Theo’s better.

When Theo pulled back, he looked like he was in shock. 

“Did that just happen?” He asked Harry

“I hope so.” Harry responded softly, still staring at Theo’s lips, mentally moving ‘Kissing Theo’ up on his list of priorities, until it sat right below ‘Not Dying.’ Theo stared at him for a moment longer before saying “Good.” and kissing him again. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I suppose I should probably start explaining myself. 
> 
> I have always headcanoned Harry as having darker skin, and there's no one to say he can't because Euphemia Potter was a pureblood, but not one of the British pureblood families (as we have that entire tree mapped out), so she had to have come from somewhere else. In this fic she immigrated to England from India, making Harry 1/4th Indian.   
> I will probably gloss over this a lot, and please believe me when I say it's not because I don't want to talk about it. I just know next to nothing about South Asian culture and I don't want to get something wrong. That being said, if you do know something about the culture, or have headcanons about the magical population in India, please impart your wisdom on me and I would love to include it.
> 
> The song Lily sings at the beginning is called 'Little Boy O', and is an old Scottish Gaelic lullaby that translates something like:  
> Little boy o, weak baby o  
> The little boy of the sheep you are.  
> Little boy o, weak boy o  
> The little boy of the sheep you are.
> 
> Boy of the sheep, boy of the sheep  
> Boy of the sheep, my darling you are.
> 
> this is a real song, which you can look up on the internet if you like. Lily's heritage will come into play a lot more often than James' unfortunately, simply because I'm a history major with a focus in European mythology so I tend to know a lot of Celtic lore.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> for anyone who cares, I have some art I made for this chapter on my blog (nerdzewordart.tumblr.com/tagged/the lost potter)

## Chapter 4

Harry watched his mother roam the kitchen from his place in his high chair. One of the cheerios fell from where it had been sticking to the applesauce that covered his face. The smell of freshly baked bread filled the air as Lily worked, singing lowly under her breath

”'Sé mo laoch mo ghile mear, 'Sé mo Shéasar, gile mear, Suan gan séan ní bhfuair mé féin, Ó chuaigh I gcéin mo ghile mear” Harry banged his sippy cup on the high chair in appreciation. Lily looked up from the bread she was kneading

“Maitheas Eanraig! Did you actually eat any of that? Or is it just all over your face?” Lily teased, putting her bread in the bread pan to rise before walking over to crouch in front of her son. Harry banged his sippy cup again. Lily just laughed.

Harry sighed and turned on his side as he drifted back to consciousness. What did these dreams mean? What did any of this mean? They weren’t like his normal dreams, and they weren’t like the dreams he’d been seeing of Voldemort either. These were something different. Something new and strange and - not bad, he didn’t think. Maybe he should finally tell someone about them. Part of him didn’t _want_ to share them though. He didn’t want anyone to listen to him talk about the dreams and write him off as being crazy, or paranoid. 

That’s why he hadn’t told Ron and Hermione yet. He loved them dearly, he always would, they were his best friends. But neither of them were much good with the weird stuff that went on in Harry’s head. Ron would just shrug it off as nothing, and Hermione would insist he tell Dumbledore. Maybe it was just Theo’s influence, but he didn't think he really trusted Dumbledore anymore - particularly not after the disappearing act he had pulled throughout the last year. Theo though...maybe he could trust Theo with them.

Theo was having the best summer of his life. 

He awoke with a soft smile already on his face. It had been three weeks since Theo had kissed Harry on the beach. Three weeks that he had been _dating Harry Potter._ He had spent all of his free time in those three weeks exploring his muggle neighborhood with the super cute boy that he was now allowed to kiss whenever he wanted. The same cute boy that he could now admit to himself he had spent the last five years pining over. It was more than he could ever have hoped for, even in his wildest dreams. Dating Harry _felt_ like something out of a dream sometimes. He was kind and sarcastic and charming and funny and all sorts of things that Theo had never gotten to witness before just from staring at him from across the great hall.

Harry was so unbelievably out of his league, and Theo relished every moment he had with him before Harry inevitably woke up and realized it.. In the meantime however, he was waiting for the chance to take advantage of his father leaving on his super-secret-and-most-definitely-evil business trip so he could hopefully spend some time with Harry somewhere that was not the woods or the arcade.

He just wasn’t sure how to ask Harry about it. It wasn’t like he thought Harry would react negatively to him asking him to come over, it was just… he didn't know. It was like there was a sort of mental roadblock there because he had never invited anyone over before - and he certainly had never invited a _boy_ over before. He wasn’t even sure when the last time his dad had been in his room was, and he knew for a fact that his dad went through his things for contraband regularly. Which reminded him, he needed to hide all of the clothes he had just gotten from their thrift store trips; he would be due for another contraband check right around when his father would be returning home.

He turned over and stared at his bedroom ceiling and thought that if anyone would understand that feeling of not knowing how to let people in to see the dark parts of your life, it would be Harry. That’s the thing though wasn’t it? He wanted to let Harry in, to let him see his room and the pieces of him that he normally tried to hide away. There was something strangely liberating about knowing that there was someone who he could tell and who might even understand.

Dating Theo wasn’t all that unlike being friends with him was. They still met up every morning, and still wandered into the woods, and played in the lake, and went to the arcade, and climbed every tree they could find. It’s just now, they would hold hands as they wandered, and he didn’t have to hide the fact that he was staring at Theo when they went to the lake, and he could hug Theo when they beat the high score on Space Invaders, and Theo could pull him onto his branch in their favorite climbing tree and kiss him gently while the leaves rustled in the breeze around them.

Dating Theo was probably the best decision he had ever made, in his own expert and not at all biased opinion. Harry had never had a boyfriend before. He’d never dated at all before unless you counted whatever that thing with Cho was, but he wouldn’t have called that dating either. He had never had a boyfriend or a girlfriend before, but he thought that Theo was probably a very good one. He was a good listener at the very least.

Theo was the best listener he knew, actually. Which is why he should probably finally tell him about the weird not-dreams. Harry took a deep and slightly tremulous breath. It was _hard_ talking about it though. It was hard to put your heart on the line and hope that the other person was careful with it.

“Theo. I think I’m going crazy. Like, maybe Sirius’s death snapped something inside my head or something.” The two of them were lying in the grass outside the Dursley’s living room window, not really listening to the football game going on in the background. England was losing anyway.

“What makes you say that?” Theo asked, turning his head to look at Harry. 

“I keep having these dreams. Only they feel like memories.”

“What do you mean?” Theo turned on his side so he was facing Harry. Harry thought back to the dreams for a moment.

“I mostly hear my mother’s voice singing some sort of lullaby, only it’s in a different language that I don’t even think I’ve heard before. Honestly I don’t even know if she’s always singing the same song or not.”

“And?”

“And I see my dad making little bluebell lights with his wand. Or Sirius chasing me around as a dog.”

“Those sound like regular dreams Harry.” 

“No, Theo, in all of them, I’m only a baby. I keep seeing my crib and a little quidditch mobile. I didn’t even know that quidditch mobiles existed.” 

Theo studied his face. “You said the song was in almost all of them?” 

Harry nodded. 

“But you don’t recognize the language?”

“No.”

“Do you remember any of the words? You know, I know a lot of languages.”

“Um. Not really?’” 

Theo sat up. “Well, My father has a Pensieve if you want, we can go look at all of your dreams and see if there’s a clue to what they are.”

This was not how he had imagined the first time sneaking his boyfriend into his house would go. It wasn’t even in the general quidditch field of possibilities he had imagined actually. Theo couldn’t find it in himself to even be upset, however, as at the end of the day, he still got to spend time with Harry. And since his father was gone, he might even be able to convince his boyfriend to spend the night. Plus, Theo had always sort of loved mysteries, and whatever these weird dreams that Harry was having were, they were definitely a mystery. 

Theo ignored his boyfriend’s ogling at the opulent decor, and led him up to his father’s office. He was pretty sure he wasn’t supposed to even know his father had a pensieve at all, but Theo was good with secrets. Secrets and lies. He originally found it during one of his exploration missions when he was around ten. It had then taken him a year of poring through books in the library for him to figure out what it was. 

He used it sometimes, to remember things about his mom, since her memory had begun to fade as he got older. His father was the opposite; he didn’t like to remember that Calla Nott had ever existed at all, and Theo could tell by the way his father would wince when he walked into a room that he sometimes didn’t want to remember that Theo existed either.

For someone that spent a lot of time in his office, Thoros Nott had very few personal belongings lining his space. It was obvious that the pensieve was one of those things however, as the handles on the cupboard where it was stored were rubbed bright gold - in contrast to the tarnished metal on the rest of the furniture in the room. Theo pulled it out and shoved it onto the desk, shoving everything else on the desk off while he was at it. 

Harry looked a little bit alarmed at his blatant disrespect for his father’s things, but didn’t actually say anything about it. (For which Theo was grateful.) 

“Ready?” he turned to look at Harry, who just nodded and used his wand to pull a long string of memory from his head. Theo watched it swirl around the bowl. He thought it was interesting that Harry’s memories were a slightly different color than his own. Harry took his hand and they dove in together.

Harry and Theo slid into the memory with an ease that Harry was sure he hadn’t had with Dumbledore or Snape’s memories. He didn’t let go of Theo’s hand even after they were firmly planted in the dream memory - which probably gave away how nervous he was - but he couldn’t really be bothered to care, because sitting at the kitchen table humming to herself was his mother. 

When he saw the memories as dreams, it never really occurred to him to pay attention to what she looked like. To his younger self, she was just his mom. He saw her every day. Now though, Harry drank her in like a starving man with a glass of water. She was taller than he had always imagined. Even looking at the pictures in his album as much as he had, he had never noticed the hundreds of freckles that dotted her face. Her hair was thicker than he had assumed as well, with a light bounce and volume that even moving photos could never truly capture. Harry thought her hair might even be nearly as thick as his own. 

She was humming a different song than the one she had been singing in his dream that morning, but before Harry could try and figure out what the song was, the memory changed. 

Now they were standing in the garden of what Harry assumed was the Potter’s house in Godric’s Hollow. Small Harry was sitting on the ground in the middle, digging a hole in the dirt with Sirius in his dog form. James and Lily were both on the porch, laughing hysterically at Sirius’ antics. He shot a glance at Theo, who was staring at them almost wistfully. 

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Harry asked him.

“I don- It’s just- they look happy. They saw so much shit, and are stuck in this house by themselves, and they were still happy.” Harry knew what he meant. Happy was hard sometimes. He gave Theo’s hand a soft squeeze, and they turned back to look at Sirius just in time for him to change back into a person.

“He was an animangus?” Theo asked, still staring.

“Yeah.”

“That’s so fucking cool!” Theo whispered, mostly to himself. Harry smiled fondly in response. Theo talked a big game, but he was still a massive nerd.

The scene changed again, and they were in Harry’s nursery, with Lily in the rocking chair, singing quietly to herself. Baby Harry was watching her with half lidded eyes as she sang. Harry couldn’t even begin to try and interpret the words before Theo spoke up.

“Gaelic. That’s Scottish Gaelic.” Harry turned to look at his boyfriend. Theo was wearing a strange pensive, almost sad, expression on his face. 

“Theo?” Harry questioned. 

“My mother was the one who taught me the language. That’s actually part of the reason I do so much extra credit for Transfiguration. McGonagall practices with me so I don’t lose it.” 

Harry hummed in acknowledgement, then pulled them gently from the memory. They needed a break. 

“You’re right. Those aren’t just dreams,” Theo said, as soon as they were out. He collapsed into the desk chair and stared contemplatively at the pensieve. 

“I told you.” Harry went to lean against the desk in front of Theo, then changed his mind and sat across his lap instead, wrapping an arm loosely around his neck. Theo responded by wrapping his arms around his waist and pressing his forehead into the crook of Harry’s neck.

“How on earth are you able to remember that far back?” It was unclear if Theo’s muffled words were directed at him or not, but Harry answered anyway.

“I don’t know. But I’ve always kind of been able to do it. The dementors brought up the memory of my mum’s death back in third year.” 

“I have so many questions. But we can get into that later. Right now, we should figure out why you’re just getting the memories now.” Harry nodded in agreement, Theo’s hair brushing against his cheek as he did so.

“Where do we start?”

They decided that they would comb through all of them for the song that Lily sang, seeing as it was the most common occurrence in the memories. Harry was no help in that regard however, seeing as he didn’t speak a word of Gaelic, and could only sometimes even tell the songs apart. Despite all of his best efforts, Theo had in fact lost a lot of his Gaelic, so it was slow going, and he ended up spending the time largely with his eyes closed to concentrate on translation, while Harry held his hand and remained silent beside him.

It was in the fifth memory that he finally caught on to the theme in her songs. 

“They’re all songs of protection. Prayers for safety and good health. That sort of thing. Most of them sound fairly old too. I wonder if she knew what they were when she sang them, or if she was just repeating songs that were sung to her or something.” Theo fidgeted with a pencil he’d picked up off the floor, as he spoke. Until he dropped it and it went rolling across the room. Harry absentmindedly tossed him a practice snitch from the pocket of his jeans. 

“How long have you been carrying this?” he asked, thoughts completely derailed.

“I brought it for you, since you’re always fidgeting with something.” Harry was still lost in his own thoughts, but Theo appreciated the gesture anyway “What if she was placing them on me intentionally? Could it have something to do with that?” he finally asked. 

Theo hummed thoughtfully, but shook his head “That doesn’t make any sense. Most of those lullabies are specifically for girls. One of them references lady and maiden no less than six times. They didn’t just mix up gendered terms, sexist bastards. Which is kind of why I thought she may have been doing it by accident. Sort of like an old protection spell passed down from person to person. They’re more likely than you’d think, even in the muggle world.” Theo mused aloud, tossing Harry’s practice snitch back and forth between his hands. The songs were weird. Sure, some of them were normal old songs, but others… some of them felt a lot like spells. They held the same weight to the words as performing any old Latin based spell might. 

They _could_ be spells, Theo thought. He knew there were obviously other spells in other languages, and he could have sworn his own mother had used some Gaelic enchantments when his father wasn’t listening. That still didn’t explain the gendered terms however. If they were spells, they were ridiculously complicated ones, and having that specific gendering would be important in the context of the spell. Lily may not have been fluent in gaelic from what Theo could tell, but she still knew enough that she would have known to change the gendered terms. He said as much to Harry.

He stopped pacing and stared at Theo for a moment, horror filling his eyes. “Theo. What if she wasn’t singing to me?” Theo looked up at him, and he could feel his heart slowly fill with dread as he understood Harry’s meaning. 

“You think your parents were going to have another kid?”

“I think she was singing to someone, and that someone wasn’t me.” It made sense really. It made a lot of sense. 

“We didn’t see her pregnant in any of the memories.” 

“We also weren’t looking for it,” Harry countered. 

Theo blinked at him. “Alright. So we go back in and look for clues that she may have been pregnant.” Surely that couldn’t be that hard right?

Trying to figure out if Lily was pregnant was harder than they expected, as baby Harry wasn’t the most attentive of children, so a large portion of the memories were blurred from lack of information. It also didn’t help that Lily was fond of wearing overalls. By the third memory, Theo was beginning to get frustrated. Harry couldn’t say he blamed him really.

“Who knew trying to detect pregnancy would be so hard? This is why I’m gay Potter,” he muttered. Harry just smiled and took his hand as they dove in again. With the fourth memory however, they hit the jackpot. Baby Harry was watching his parents on the couch from his little playpen. They had written the memory off before, as Lily hadn’t been singing in it, but now that they were actually paying attention, they noticed that Lily and James were curled on the couch with a book between them. They had to strain to hear over baby Harry’s little baby noises.

“Come on Lils, we named Harry after your Grandfather, can’t we name her after someone in my family?” James teased, though it was obvious to both intruding boys that he was only taking the Mickey. 

“You say that as if your grandfather wasn’t also named Henry.”

“Eanraig is not the same as Henry,” he joked.

“Sure, except your parents are named Fleamont and Euphemia. I love your parents James, but I refuse to subject my children to that.” 

He laughed and kissed her forehead.“So what were you thinking?”

“My grandmum wanted my mum to name me Ailsa, I think that would make a good name don’t you?” 

“What’s it mean?”

“Supernatural Victory. Would have been fitting for me wouldn’t it?” James laughed. 

“Alright then. Ailsa it is.” They talked more, but Harry could barely hear it over the ringing in his ears. He’d had a sister. He’d had a family.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Much thanks to Susan, who got to listen to me rant about these boys, despite not actually being in the Harry Potter fandom.  
> I have some more art of them on my blog (nerdzewordart.tumblr.com/tagged/the lost potter) if anyone is interested

##  Chapter 5

“Shit.” Harry sat down on the couch beside Theo when they came out of the memory. “I was going to have a sister,” he whispered, in shock. 

Theo wrapped an arm around Harry’s shoulders and pressed a kiss against his neck. “I’m so sorry Harry.” 

Harry let out a bitter laugh. He had always wanted a family. A real family, one that didn’t hate him. And here he found out that he had even had one at one point. And Voldemort had taken her from him too. “It’s funny. You said that lullaby was an old spell. Do you think she even knew she put protections on us even before our births?” 

Theo suddenly sat up and dropped his arm. “She put protections on you... The dreams… Harry. What if she didn’t die?”

“What are you talking about? My mum is definitely dead.”

“Not your mum. Your  _ sister.  _ Harry. Have you learned  _ anything  _ about magical inheritances?”

“Um. No? Should I have?” Harry wrinkled his brow.

“Technically everyone should have, but it’s not as common knowledge these days as it may have been in the past. Simply because most of the time, it’s irrelevant.”

“What do you mean?”

“So back in ye olden days, when the sacred twenty-eight or thirty-nine or whatever was a relevant hierarchical scale, there was the issue that all of these families would have several kids that could inherit the ‘throne’ so to speak. Which basically meant they were in charge of preserving the family magic, no matter who was actually running the show. In fact, it was actually common practice to make the magical inheritor different from the traditional inheritor - to split the power so to speak.”

“As the years went on, as more and more of the traditional lines either bred into extinction, were murdered, or moved overseas, fewer families would actually bother naming a person to claim magical inheritance. Plus,most pureblood families started having only one child in each generation - some because of inbreeding, and some to keep the line as linear as possible.”

“In fact,” Theo mused, “I’m pretty sure Draco doesn’t even know about magical inheritance at all, considering he is the first person in the Malfoy line in six generations who has had an aunt.”

Harry stared at Theo. “So what does this have to do with me?”

He twirled his hand at Harry. “I’m getting to that. So before there was only one kid in each family, there had to be someone to choose the heir. Usually this was done in a big, almost, like a coming of age ceremony? Usually around the age of twelve. Or sometimes it was even an adoption, as unlike the estate and title inheritance, the magical heir didn’t need to be related by blood. The thing is Harry, magic is wild and powerful and all, but it also likes to be used. Which is why it allows us to channel it through words and wands and shit. That’s also I think, why muggleborns exist. Magic wants to be used, so it will find a way to make it happen. It also means that, in cases like yours, where since your parents were having another kid, they wouldn’t have automatically made you the heir.”

“Theo. What are you getting at here.”

“If your Mum’s love or whatever saved you from the literal killing curse, it stands to reason that it would save your sister as well, and if your sister is still out there somewhere, your family magic will be wanting you, as the current head of the house, to name an heir. I think that the dreams are your magic’s way of reminding you of your responsibilities.” Theo said quickly, then he waited for Harry to stop staring at him and say something. 

Harry just stared longer, not even daring to hope he could be right. “Theo- that- that sounds crazy. You know that right?”

“I know,” Theo said. “But as crazy as it is, it also is the only thing that makes sense. You just inherited not one, but two different family magics, neither of which had an heir. Your magic is probably going crazy, trying to send you the signals to pick an heir.”

“Okay,” Harry said carefully, “but how on earth would she have even survived?”

“That memory was from six months before they died. That means that no matter how far along your mum was in that memory, six months later she would definitely have been showing, you follow?”

“Yeah?”

“Who was the first one to find your parents?” Theo paced back and forth, tossing the snitch again. Harry couldn’t help but smile at his enthusiasm.

“Hagrid or Sirius I think.”

“Harry. Think. Is there any way that  _ anyone _ else could have reached her first?” 

Harry bit his lip. He had read every news article and listened to every rendition of the story he could find. If anyone was to know, it would be him. “The only ones who could have potentially gotten there first would be those who had already known about what was going to happen,” he finally decided. 

“So, in theory, anyone else could have gotten there first? A friend, a neighbor?” 

Harry nodded.“But even if someone did, Theo, she was already gone, what more could they have done?” 

Theo bit his lip and pointed at Harry a couple of times before running out of the room. Harry stared after him, baffled. He came back a few minutes later, arms full of books. 

“If someone else got to your mum fast enough, they could have performed an emergency cesarean and saved the baby.”

“Even if they did, where is she now? Would she go to Hogwarts?” 

Theo gave him a slightly manic grin. “That’s what we need to find out isn’t it?” Theo dropped a book in his lap. “This is an automatically updating record of all newspapers in London. If you tap it with your wand, and say the date you’re looking for, it’ll pull it up.” 

Harry looked up at him. “We’d be better off looking at muggle hospital records.” 

“What do you think this one is?” Theo asked, pointing to his own book.

“Where did you even get these?” Harry asked with fond exasperation. “It’s a miracle you haven’t been arrested yet honestly.” He opened the book and tapped it with his wand. “October 31st, 1981,” he stated. There were loads of articles about strange events taking place, but Harry only skimmed those. Apparently most of the wizarding populace had forgotten the statute of secrecy in their excitement that day. 

“There’s nothing in here about an orphaned newborn. And there’s definitely no birth announcements.” Harry slammed the book in frustration. 

“Good news, I think,” Theo said, staring down at his own page. Harry leaned to read over his shoulder, trying to control the pounding of his heart. “Looks like there were three orphaned babies dropped off at London hospitals that week.” Theo tapped a finger on the page. Harry looked back up at him. 

“Do you remember when they announce the first years in the Prophet?” Theo asked softly.

“It’s usually September 7th isn’t it?” Harry tapped on his book again.“Daily prophet, September 7th, 1993.”

“Genius,” Theo murmured into his shoulder. 

Harry pointed to the page in his lap. “Here it is, read those names Theo.”

“Destiny, Moire, Lena...” Theo hadn’t even finished reading off the list of birth records before Harry found the corresponding name on his page of the Prophet and pointed it out to Theo. He felt like his bones had turned to mush. He had a sister. He had a living breathing sister. He grinned slowly, letting the thought sink into his bones and pull him under. He had a sister. He had a  _ family _ .

Harry let his book slide to the floor before he turned to stare at Theo. Theo who had dropped everything for him, who was patient and smart and never asked Harry for anything he couldn’t give. Harry wrapped his fingers around his jaw, pulled Theo down and kissed him desperately. 

“Thank you. Thank you. Thank you,” he said in between kisses. Theo kissed him back with equal vigor. 

“Are we sure that’s her?” Theo asked. 

Harry shrugged, eyes not leaving Theo’s face. “I don’t see who else it would be. She’s the only name that matches.”

“Well, if it is, whoever found her had to have known your Mum well. Well enough to know that she was going to give her a Gaelic name anyway, but not enough to know what name she chose. Whoever they were though, they were not great at naming. Her name in Gaelic literally means Bitter Lily. Why the fuck would you name a kid bitter Lily? Your parents at least had  _ class _ .” Theo spread her full medical file out on the coffee table as he spoke. Harry smiled at Theo’s rant, still overcome with affection for him. 

“Moire Lili Jameson,” Harry read over Theo’s shoulder again. “She was adopted by muggles then.”

“Had to have been. I dunno if you’ve noticed Potter, but wizards don’t tend to adopt much.”

“Shame. I’d have much rather been adopted than live with the Dursleys.” Theo laughed, but Harry suddenly felt like he was going to be sick.

“Oh no. Last year must have been terrible for her.” Harry was suddenly thinking of all the awful things that she had to have gone through. She would have been in second year during the Triwizard tournament. Harry wondered who she had rooted for. And she was in her third year for Umbridge’s reign of terror. Harry was suddenly filled with the sickening sensation that he has a little sister he has done nothing to protect the entire time she has been at Hogwarts. 

“Harry. There’s nothing you can do about that now. The best you can do now is find her so we can keep her from getting into more trouble. Okay?” Theo knew exactly what he was thinking as usual. Harry pulled his head back to the present.

“How are we supposed to do that?” Harry asked. Theo grinned and Harry immediately regretted his question. “Actually, don’t tell me. I want plausible deniability for when you get caught and thrown in Azkaban.” 

Theo kissed him and started pulling Harry towards his bedroom. “Come on Potter. Bedtime.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay so hopefully this chapter clears at least a little shit up for y'all. Buckle up bitches, it only gets weirder from here.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Much thanks to Susan, who isn't even in the Harry Potter fandom, and still betas chapters for me. That's true friendship y'all.
> 
> This is late... I have no excuse. I just didn't finish it when I meant to. This week's chapter will probably also be late, but hopefully not quite as late.

##  Chapter 6

When Theo had kissed Harry Potter three weeks ago, he had assumed that this would be just another summer fling, something to keep him occupied and away from the war he wanted less and less to do with every day. But Harry was...he was  _ more  _ than that. Everything about him was just  _ more.  _ He was quieter, and sadder, and infinitely more broken than Theo would have originally guessed. But he was also funnier and more charming and an unbelievably great kisser, and Theo was so  _ weak  _ for this boy. He didn’t understand what made Harry Potter so different from everyone else he had ever been with.

What made him so much more.

Theo had gone into this relationship believing it would only be a summer fling, that it would end as soon as Harry managed to escape his shitty family- the same way Theo had been trying to escape his own for years. Or maybe he thought it would end whenever they went back to Hogwarts. Either way, he didn’t expect to end up finding a mystery, or learning to use a muggle coffee maker, or falling-  _ no _ . It was too soon for that. But Theo knew he could. Easily. And that thought was terrifying. Theo didn’t  _ do  _ love. He tried not to care about anyone, and no one gave a shit about him in return. That's how all of his relationships worked. All of them.

Except Harry.

Harry was special. Harry had - as Lewis Carroll would say - more  _ muchness _ . And he gave Theo some of that muchness, until Theo felt like he too could imagine six impossible things before breakfast. Theo couldn’t decide if that made him or Harry the white queen in this situation, but either way, Harry was more, and he made Theo more too. 

He made Theo believe in things again. Theo couldn’t decide if he loved Harry, or hated him for that. What he did know was that hope was a thing with wings that lifted you up, but it made the potential fall all the more painful. 

Theo watched his boyfriend’s face as he slept. He hated watching Harry sleep. Some people looked peaceful when they were asleep, but not Harry. Harry always looked tense, like he was about to crawl out of his skin. Every so often, however, he would give a small smile. Theo lived for those smiles; the gentlest curl of lips as his boyfriend saw something wonderful. Theo wanted to see that smile all the time. He wanted to cause that smile.

Theo wasn’t stupid. He saw the way Harry looked at him sometimes, the quick glances and the soft crinkle around his eyes as he smiled. Theo had never seen Harry give anyone else that look. That look, like Theo was the center of his universe. They had been together for three weeks, and friends for six. It was too soon. It was too soon for anything important. And yet…Theo had read somewhere that when you know, you  _ know. _ And Theo was pretty sure he knew. He also knew that Harry was pretty sure he knew, too. 

So where did that leave them? Two broken boys, somewhere on a collision course with love, in the middle of a bloody fucking war that should have been over long before either of them hit maturity. It was like a tragedy waiting to happen. Theo didn’t care. That’s where that left them, he decided. He didn’t care. Let the world throw its worst at them, if Theo wanted to fall in love with the boy sleeping beside him, he damn well would. If they decided to go their separate ways at the end of the summer? Well that would be alright too. Theo was done worrying about whether or not something was going to end badly. He was almost seventeen, he was almost an adult, it was about time he made his own decisions.

Harry smiled in his sleep again and Theo couldn’t help but smile in response. Theo was going to make his own decisions, and his first one would be following this boy to the ends of the earth and back again. Theo had never liked his father anyway.

Part of Harry wondered if his Aunt and Uncle even noticed that he had been gone for two days. The other parts of him didn’t care. He had just spent the last two days diving in and out of his own memories, trying to piece together who could possibly have found his sister, and what she was like. That, or snogging Theo. He was exhausted.

“There you are, boy!” Uncle Vernon exclaimed when Harry stumbled into the house. “We’re going out for the night, I want this house  _ spotless  _ when we get back.” Funny, that his own family was leaving on the same day that Theo’s dad got back. Harry sighed, but went to find the broom and mop anyway. He might as well get some of it done before Theo inevitably showed up at his door. 

He’d nearly finished cleaning before Theo arrived, which would have been surprising, had he not known about Thoros’ return. Harry wondered vaguely what it would be like to have a family that cared and wanted to spend time with you - the concept was foreign to him. Theo talked about how terrible his dad was a lot, and he  _ was  _ terrible. But he also  _ cared -  _ even if it was only because he was sure that Theo would be following in his footsteps - which was a hell of a lot more than could be said about Harry’s own family. Theo had good memories of his father from before he lost touch with reality, and even better memories of his mother. He could pick out his mother’s perfume, and show Harry the books they had read together, and Theo could  _ remember.  _

Harry didn’t get that. All he had were a few bottled and slightly hazy memories that didn’t even really feel like his own, and a scar that usually only reminded him of his parent’s deaths and the weight they had left on his shoulders fifteen years ago.

It probably wasn’t too much of a surprise that Theo caught onto his dark moord right away, as Harry had spent most of the morning and a good chunk of the afternoon working himself into a state, and combined with his exhaustion, he couldn’t seem to bring himself to try and reclaim the high spirits he’d had the previous two days.

Theo stepped in front of him, and studied his face. “What’s wrong?”

Harry momentarily wondered how Theo had gotten in the house, seeing as he was sure that the front door had been locked. “I don’t know. It’s just…everything I guess.”

“The Dursleys giving you trouble again?” he guessed.

Harry pressed his forehead against Theo’s chest. “No more than usual. I’m just tired.” Theo wrapped his arms around Harry’s shoulders and pressed a kiss against the top of his head.

“We should go to the park.” Theo decided. Harry didn’t particularly have the energy to fight him on it, so he just shrugged his shoulders, and let Theo guide him out of the house.

"So are we going to talk about the fact that Harry is apparently short for Eanraig?" Theo reached into the bag at his side and pulled out a bottle of firewhiskey he no doubt swiped from his dad, before resting his head on Harry’s shoulder and lifting the bottle to his lips. Harry appreciated his attempts to get his mind off the Dursleys. 

“I dunno, are we?” They were sitting on one of the half walls that ran around the outside of the park.

“We should...the fact that she gave both you and your sister Scottish Gaelic names means she was obviously very interested in her heritage. Not just everyone names their kids after the ancient form of their grandparent’s names. My mom didn’t, and she actually taught me Gaelic.” Theo paused for a moment. “It also means that Eanraig is what had to have shown up in the book when they sent out Hogwarts letters, yet Harry is what they put on the letter.”

“Do you think it’s because I only go by Harry?” he asked, thinking that maybe Theo was grasping at straws a bit. “The letter was addressed to the cupboard under the stairs, and can you imagine McGonagall writing that on an envelope voluntarily?” Harry knew perfectly well that using McGonagall against Theo was a low blow, since he had a weird hero worship of her, but the alternative was that she and Dumbledore had both known about his real name and chosen not to use it, and that was unacceptable. 

Theo thought for a moment. “You may be right about that. And Ailsa obviously didn’t get her real name on her letter, otherwise I’m sure she would have said something by now.” Harry nodded, ignoring Theo’s hair tickling the side of his neck. 

“Back to what I was saying before, though, just how interested was Lily Potter in her heritage? She obviously knew enough Gaelic to sing that old lullaby to Ailsa, and I’d bet you anything she sang one to you as well.” 

Harry hummed in response, thinking over everything anyone had ever told him about his mum. “She had an accent,” he mused when he finally spoke.

“What?” Theo asked. 

“She had a Scottish accent, and a strong one at that. You could kind of hear it in the memories, but more than that, Aunt Petunia has an accent sometimes. I’ve heard it come out when she’s really mad or frustrated.” 

Theo pulled his head off of Harry’s shoulder. “Really? I thought she was supposed to be like, a posh-acting British lady.”

“ _ Acting _ is the key word there.” 

“Huh,” Theo said before raising a toast to the cloudy sky. “I’ll drink to that.” Harry smiled at his enthusiasm and pulled the bottle from his hand before taking a swig.

“Truth or Dare Theo?” 

Theo grinned. “Truth.”

“Where did you tell your dad you would be staying tonight?” Because Harry knew Theo, and he knew that Theo didn’t bring out good firewhiskey and his existential questions unless he had an ulterior motive. 

“Blaise’s. Blaise will roll with it if he asks, and won’t even bother asking where I was actually.” Theo took the bottle from Harry’s hand and took a great swig. “Truth or dare?”, he asked, as Harry resisted the urge to follow the alcohol to Theo’s mouth.

“Truth,” Harry said agreeably.

“When are your Aunt and Uncle supposed to get home?”

“Not until morning.” Harry gave into the urge and kissed the taste of whiskey off of Theo’s lips. 

“Oh,” Theo said, his mouth turning up at the corners.

“Truth or Dare?” Harry whispered against his lips.

“Dare,” Theo answered breathily.

“Take your shirt off?” Harry asked, leaning back and taking another swig from the bottle he had just stolen from Theo’s hand. Theo complied with a fond eye roll at the call back to their last game.

“Yes. Truth or dare?” 

Harry considered, carefully taking in Theo’s bare chest. For someone so skinny, he was surprisingly fit. “Dare.”

“I dare you... to kiss me.”

“No.” Harry scoffed.

“No?” Theo asked, momentarily confused.

“No. I was planning on doing that anyway. Ask for something else.”

“Fine. I dare you to strip to your pants and play the rest of the game from my lap, you smug bastard.”

Harry smirked at him before pulling his shirt over his head. “You really are terrible at this Theo. What’s the worst that could happen? The neighbors see and I add to my already weird reputation, further adding to my regrettable family’s distress?” 

Theo was watching him almost hungrily as he pulled off his jeans. “I don’t know Harry, I’d say I came out the winner of this round.” 

Harry gave him a look before straddling him on the park bench. “I don’t know about that Theo. Truth or dare?”

“Dare,” Theo replied recklessly.

“I dare you not to touch me,” Harry whispered in his ear, intentionally letting his lips catch the corner of Theo’s jaw as he pulled away.

“That’s cheating,” Theo complained, still watching him hungrily. 

Harry shrugged and took another drink. “There are no rules in this game don’t you know?” 

Theo hummed in response and grabbed the bottle from Harry’s hand. Harry suspected it was to keep himself from touching Harry. 

“Truth or dare?” Theo questioned after he swallowed.

“Truth,” Harry said, just to be contrary.

“Do you think our parents would have liked this? Like,  _ us _ ?” Harry knew he wasn’t referring to his dad with that question.

“I don’t know,” Harry said thoughtfully. “I don’t know, and we’ll never get a chance to know, because they were taken from us too soon. But what I do know is that even if they didn’t approve, I wouldn’t stop.” Had Harry actually thought about what he was saying, had he not had the alcohol buzzing through his veins, he might not have said it. But as it was, Theo had this look of slight awe on his face, as if he wasn’t quite sure that Harry was real. 

“Fuck,” was Theo’s only response before he was cut off by a couple of drops of rain that were a very clear indicator of more to come. “ _ Fuck,”  _ he repeated with more venom. Harry laughed and clambored off of his lap to get his clothes. 

Theo pulled his own shirt back on and picked up his bag, firewhiskey safely stowed again before turning to look at Harry. He was clothed again, thankfully. Theo didn’t know if he had the self restraint to keep from touching Harry for very much longer. Speaking of which...

“Hey Harry. If we both have our clothes back on, does that mean the game is over?”

“I guess. Why-”

“Good.” Theo pressed him against the nearest tree and kissed him thoroughly. Fuck Harry Potter honestly. Fuck him for being hot, and for liking Theo despite everything, and  _ fuck him especially _ for knowing exactly what he was doing to Theo, and doing it anyway. 

Fuck Harry Potter for being more.

Harry reciprocated the kiss with just as much passion, threading his hands in Theo’s hair and tugging lightly, until Theo couldn’t take the slowly increasing insistence of the rain hitting his head anymore. 

“Can we  _ please  _ get out of the rain?”

“That’s the second best idea you’ve had all night,” Harry laughed before pulling him in the direction of the Dursley house. 

“Shhhhhh,” Harry whisper-giggled as they made their way up the stairs. Honestly, it was a good thing that the Dursleys were gone, because there was no way either of them could have been anywhere close to quiet in the state they were in. They were both shivering from the freezing rain, but not even the cold could dampen Harry’s spirits; a far cry from the mood he had been in that morning.

Harry could almost feel the electricity gathering between the two of them as he pressed Theo against the wall in the middle of the stairs. Theo responded in earnest, a laugh dancing on his lips. Harry pulled him the rest of the way up the stairs and shoved him towards his bedroom. 

Within moments, Theo had his lips back on Harry’s neck, and Harry found himself tugging at Theo’s belt. It never even occurred to Harry to question this. He really  _ really  _ liked this boy, and it didn’t even matter that Theo was crass, and rude, and completely, undeniably broken. He couldn’t think of any other person on earth that he would rather spend these wet, drunken moments with. 

“You sure?” Theo whispered, halting Harry’s hands.

“More than,” was his reply.

He went back to kissing his boyfriend. Harry was so tired of waiting for things to happen. He was waiting for a sign from the Order, saying he could finally get out of this hellhole. He was waiting for Hogwarts so he could finally use magic again. He was just glad he didn’t have to wait for Theo too. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting schedule? What's that? Don't know her.  
> Actual message I received from Susan this morning: "you have hooked me on a ship in a fandom that i am not even in  
> you asshole"   
> I feel so honored.

##  Chapter 7

Harry woke to the sound of all of the locks coming undone. Oh fuck.

He shook Theo, who was sleeping beside him. “Theo!” Harry whispered furiously, “Theo wake up, you’ve got to-” the last lock clicked open and Harry hurriedly shoved Theo off the bed and onto the floor on the opposite side. 

“What the hell Harr-” 

“Shhhhhh!” Harry admonished, throwing on a t-shirt from the floor, mostly just grateful he had thought to put his boxers back on the night before, unlike Theo, who was currently only clothed in half a sheet from the bed. Vernon burst into the room looking every bit like a blustery tomato.

“Who were you talking to, boy?” 

Harry blinked at him “Who would I be talking to?”

“Don’t get smart with me boy, you were talking to someone just now, who was it!” Harry wanted to laugh at his Uncle’s complete incompetence, as Theo wasn’t making any effort whatsoever to stay hidden.

“I have been locked in here all night, I don’t know who I would be talking to,” Harry replied calmly, trying to get his uncle to go away, as Theo had just started stroking his leg beneath the blankets, and Harry wasn’t sure how long he could pretend to not be affected. Vernon finally left, after giving Harry a list of chores to complete, and they could hear him starting up the car outside to head for work. Theo climbed back up onto the bed and straddled Harry, giving him a long kiss before both of them burst into relieved giggles.

Harry received a letter from Dumbledore not even an hour later, explaining that he was coming to get him from the Dursley’s the next Tuesday. He showed it to Theo when he appeared in the kitchen after using up all of the Dursley’s hot water for a shower. 

“That’s the day before my birthday,” Harry said. Theo made himself a cup of coffee before sitting down next to Harry at the kitchen table.

“That means we won’t be able to celebrate together,” Theo replied, reading the letter over Harry’s shoulder. “Is he always this cryptic?” 

“Yes. He is. What it  _ means _ is we’re going to have to talk to Ailsa before I leave. There’s no way they’re going to just let me waltz into London to maybe meet my little sister. I’ll sound like a lunatic.”

“I can see the headlines now:  **Potter on Potions: How Harry went Mad!** ” Theo announced dramatically in his best rendition of a quidditch announcer. 

Harry shoved him over and laughed. “Seriously Theo.” 

Theo climbed back onto his chair and took Harry’s hand.“So we go find her before you leave. We talk to your sister, we send each other owls every day, I sneak into the Weasley’s and break you out to go on a date, then we go back to Hogwarts to fuck in all of the broom closets we can find, like any other sixteen year old couple would do.” 

Harry smiled. “All of that sounds great, except for the breaking into The Burrow thing. That one is likely to get you hurt. So maybe we can plan that date for later.” 

“Sounds great.” Theo leaned over to kiss him again. 

The walk to Theo’s house got shorter every time they did it. Harry could have sworn it took three times longer the first time. Then again, the first time, Theo had been pretending not to know how to get home. 

“Are you sure it’s okay for us to be doing this? What if your father comes home?” Harry asked Theo, as he swung their hands between them. 

“If that happens, we initiate plan B. But we should have at least a couple of hours before he returns. He’s kind of predictable actually.”

“There’s always room for error Theo,” Harry sighed, “but if you say so.”

“We still have some research to do Harry, there’s no time to waste since we have less than a week to meet Ailsa and get all of your affairs in order before you’re shipped off to the Weasley hovel.” 

Theo was so earnest, that Harry didn’t even think about admonishing him further. What he did think about was the fact that two months ago, he couldn’t wait to go to the Burrow, and now he spent every second thinking about how much he would miss this time with Theo. This time when it was just him and Theo and the summer air rolling against the skin of their intertwined hands.

“Hey, you can’t call it a hovel until you’ve actually been there.”

“If you insist.” Theo didn’t say  _ and when would I have the opportunity to go? _ Or  _ who in their right mind would invite a Death Eater’s son?  _ Or  _ everything we are is a secret, I don’t get the luxury of meeting your family. _ All of which were things that Harry knew were running through his boyfriend’s head. He stopped walking and Theo stopped to look over at him as well.

“Hey. This isn’t forever. You know that right?” Harry kept talking when he saw the flash of panic flit across Theo’s face at his words. Oh.  _ Oh.  _ Harry pinned that to examine later, when Theo wasn’t staring at him with that terrified look on his face. “This war. The hiding. It’s not forever.” Harry took a step closer, until they were nearly touching. “One day, I’m going to be able to wake up next to you every single day, and it won’t be a secret. We just have to make it until then, yeah?” 

Something smoothed out in Theo’s face and he leaned forward to capture Harry’s lips. “Yeah.”

“Come on then, you said we had research to do right?” Harry tugged his hand.

“Fuck. Yeah. Yes.” 

“I thought your dad was back?” Harry asked as they entered the house.

“Yes and no. He’s back in town, but he’s gone until six tonight, so we have a very limited window in which we can do this.” 

“I’m not sure how much help I’ll be, but I can try.” Harry told him seriously. Now that he thought about it, Harry actually wasn’t sure if he had ever actually done any of his own research. Usually he could just beg the books he needed to write his essays off of Hermione. She would even mark the pages he needed. Theo led him to the library and started browsing the shelves, obviously in search of something specific.

“That’s fine.” Theo smiled at him over his shoulder, and it took a conscious effort for Harry to keep himself from leaning forward to kiss him. 

“What are we looking for anyway?” Harry scanned the shelves to distract himself. 

“There’s a blood test spell in one of these books. I was reading about it in the Hogwarts library last year. Blood magic. Super old. Super simple. It was originally used for testing paternity. We should be able to use it to double check that Moire is Ailsa. Because she should be, you know, related to you.”

“Don’t we already know that though?” Harry asked. “I thought we agreed that she was the only person it could be?”

Theo nodded. “I mean, yeah, we know that, but she won’t. We should make sure we have proof to back up our claims. Remember we don’t actually know her.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Harry turned back to read the spines again. He didn’t try to touch any of them however. Who knew what sorts of curses there were on “The Pureblood Project” and “Dark Arts and You.” 

“What do you think, Harry, ‘The Properties of Blood Magic’ or ‘Blood and Inheritance’?” 

Harry shrugged. “Why don’t you just take both?”

“Fuck. Smart and pretty. Alright. Both it is. Hopefully this has what we need. Some of these books bite, so I’d rather not have to go through too many of them.” Theo jumped off of the stepstool he had climbed on when Harry wasn’t looking, and Harry was suddenly very glad he hadn’t tried touching any of the books. 

Theo spread the books out on the table in the corner of the library and started flipping through them, lost to the world. Harry felt a bit awkward just sitting there staring at his boyfriend while he did research to help him out. Not that Harry was complaining, he could spend entire days just staring at Theo; in fact he had spent days staring at Theo. He should actually start practicing  _ not  _ staring at Theo if they were going to try and keep their relationship a secret at Hogwarts. Harry still wasn’t sure how he could possibly pretend that he didn’t know Theo existed. Now that Harry knew him, Theo seemed to have a sort of larger-than-life presence, and Harry’s eyes were just drawn to him, like a moth to flame. 

“Found it!” Theo had moved onto the second book while Harry was lost in his own thoughts. “It seems easy enough. A little bit of blood. A little bit of ancient Armenian spellwork, which I will have to do wandlessly. Easy peasy.” 

Harry stared at him, a bit bemused. “It doesn’t sound easy to me, but whatever you say.” 

Theo leaned across the table to peck him on the lips. “We still have time. Do you want to go look through those memories again and try and dissect the spells your mom used?”

“You’re such a nerd.”

“Well?” Theo prodded.

“Of course I do.”

  
  


They lost track of time.

Theo had a feeling that would happen when he invited Harry over on a deadline, but he had done it anyway, because he was dumb, and gay, and just wanted to spend as much time as possible with his boyfriend in the few days of freedom they had left. He should never have tried fitting in his old Scottish spell project, and he definitely should not have gotten distracted by Harry in the middle of it - enjoyable as his distraction had been. 

All things considered though, he was pretty pleased at how the day had turned out. He’d gotten to do research on two different things and mess around with his boyfriend, and the only really stressful part had been when his father had come home in the middle of Harry’s retreat, and he’d had to flee out the window. Even that had been objectively humorous, however. Theo collapsed onto his bed, still a bit strung up from the adrenaline. What had he done right to deserve all this? And how could he keep doing it?

Theo was still sort of walking on air when he was cornered by his father at dinner that evening. He was honestly surprised that it took him that long.

“Theodore.” His father set down his fork and steepled his fingers in a way that Theo was pretty sure was meant to look ominous.

“Yes father?” He idly wondered if his father could tell that Theo had just lost his virginity the night before. He wondered if it was obvious that he had been doing unspeakable things to his boyfriend in this very house, not three hours prior. He doubted it however, as his father was not the most observant of people. A point which was further emphasized by his question.

“Why is the entire contents of my desk on the floor of my office?” How his father had not noticed the fact that his desk had been completely cleared in the previous three days he had been home was completely beyond Theo.

“Probably because I was using it to give Harry Potter a blow job.” And because he was using it to place the pensieve on, but that would ruin the narrative he had going. His father did not look impressed. 

“This is not a joking matter Theodore. You can clean it up after dinner.” His father’s obliviousness was truly a work of beauty. 

“Yes father.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I need you all to know that my name in the group chat was 'tabletop roleplay' for a solid four days or so after I shared the last section with the squad.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With each day that passes, Susan falls deeper and deeper into the trap that is the Harry Potter fandom. I regret nothing, because it means I get to use her awesome beta skills and have her message me things like "what is theo's job gonna be when they grow up and get married?" at like, 4pm on a Sunday. 
> 
> I love getting questions like that, because I guarantee you, I have an answer.

##  Chapter 8

Harry didn’t ask how Theo got Ailsa’s address, or the muggle money, or a working knowledge of the London underground. Harry was, however, grateful for his abundant knowledge, as Harry himself didn’t have a clue as to where he was going. 

Harry was grateful for Theo in general. 

Harry had always hated coming to London, because London meant shopping, and shopping meant wandering around boutiques with only Dudley and Petunia for company. Dudley was usually just as bored as Harry, and a bored Dudley was a dangerous Dudley. The only highlights he had ever had in London were the few times he was able to escape from his miserable family and sneak down to whichever Indian Restaurant was closest and buy the cheapest thing on the menu with whatever pocket change he had managed to squirrel away. 

But Theo made London fun, just by his presence alone. Every other word out of his mouth was a whispered “ _ What’s this for? _ ” or “ _ What’s that do? _ ” or “ _ Why are they wearing that? _ ” Harry thought that Theo navigated the underground oddly well for someone who didn’t know what a tracksuit was. He was now starting to wonder if maybe he should have dragged Theo into London more often.

Theo’s knowledge of the muggle world was sporadic at best. He could wield a bus pass and money with ease, but rarely spoke unless addressed directly, and displayed the most sincere bafflement at the idea of the movie theater that Harry thought he had ever seen. Harry wondered just how terrible the Muggle Studies class at Hogwarts was if most wizards couldn’t even tell you the name of the current Queen, let alone the Prime Minister.

Harry was happy to answer all of Theo’s questions about the muggle world and even promised to take Theo to a movie before he went to the Weasleys. “One last date before I go, yeah? We can catch a matinee. Tickets are cheaper on Tuesdays anyway.” Theo had given him an odd look that Harry couldn’t quite decipher before agreeing, but Harry opted not to press him on it. Theo would tell him when he was ready to tell him. 

That was how he and Theo worked, he decided. They told each other everything eventually, but they never felt obligated to tell right away. There was a certain level of trust there that Harry wasn’t even sure he had with Ron and Hermione. So if Theo didn’t feel like telling Harry with words, Harry was sure that he would end up finding out in some other way.

Hell, up until Theo had mentioned fucking in broom closets, Harry hadn’t even known that he had wanted to continue their relationship when they got to Hogwarts. But Harry thought he might actually like how he and Theo worked better. They didn’t have awkward silences, or constantly have to talk about their feelings - in fact Harry thought Theo probably ignored feelings altogether whenever possible. 

But that just made Harry feel all the more special. Because Harry could see how different Theo was with him than he was with everyone else. He got to see the real smiles that would appear on his face when Theo was excited about something. He got to hear Theo rant about his father at three in the morning when they were both woken up by nightmares. And only Harry was privy to the sweet little forehead and cheek kisses that Theo liked to drop on him at random. 

They walked up to the door of the muggle flat. Theo knocked quickly, just praying she was home. After some digging, he discovered that she tended to do various extra credit summer camps in the muggle world during her breaks. He opted not to tell Harry that however; Theo wasn’t sure if he could handle the amount of familial pride his boyfriend would emit if he was privy to that knowledge. 

The door opened to reveal a short and stocky girl of what looked like asian descent. “Hi, we’re looking for Moire Jameson?” Theo said politely. 

The girl blinked before turning and yelling over her shoulder. “Moiiiiiiraaaaa. It’s for you!” 

Theo wondered if Ailsa intentionally mispronounced her name, or if she just didn’t care when other people did. A few seconds later a taller girl with bright red hair that was streaked with what looked like it used to be blue appeared at the door. 

She shared Harry’s thin and wiry frame, his dark skin, and his messy curls. Unlike Harry, she had apparently inherited James’ hazel eyes and a splattering of freckles that stood out like ink against her skin. Theo had never thought about the fact that Harry’s sister would have the same light brown skin as Harry did, even though it made sense for the mixed siblings to share a skin tone. In his mind, Theo had always thought about Harry’s coloring as a strictly Harry thing. 

Theo had seen her around the castle. If he recalled correctly, she was a Ravenclaw, on the Quidditch team, though he was unsure as to what position she played. 

Theo held out his hand for her. “Hi, Moire I’m-” 

She blinked in surprise, interrupting him,“You know, I think you’re the first person other than Professor McGonagall who has actually pronounced my name right on the first try.”

“My mother was Gaelic,” Theo supplied helpfully, before finishing his introduction. “I’m Theo Nott.” 

Ailsa opened the door further to let them in. “Come on in, and maybe you can explain why the Chosen One is on my doorstep.” Harry winced slightly at the name but followed Theo into the flat. 

“Tea?” she asked after the two guests had gotten settled on the couch.

“Yes please,” Theo replied.

“She looks just like mom,” Harry whispered as soon as she had left the room. 

“Pull it together Potter. You hate being compared to your dad, why are you doing it to her?” 

Harry blinked. “You’re right.” He nodded and Theo took his hand as Ailsa re-entered the room. 

“So is anyone going to explain why I have a third of the golden trio, and a Slytherin in my flat?” Harry winced again at the awful moniker. Theo just sighed. 

“Are you aware of your adoption status?” Theo asked as soon as she had sat down. He could practically feel Harry roll his eyes beside him. 

“Ignore Theo. He’s an asshole.” Harry smiled at his sister, and Theo considered arguing with Harry for a moment, before he decided that he wanted answers more. Besides, Harry wasn’t exactly  _ wrong.  _

Ailsa stared at them nervously. “Um. Yes? But how would you know that?” 

Harry and Theo looked at one another “That’s kind of a long story. Do you know who your birth parents were?” Theo forged ahead with his questioning.

Ailsa relaxed slightly and picked her tea back up. “I have been trying to figure out who my birth parents were since I got my letter. I have it narrowed down to a couple of options.” 

“Who?” Theo demanded, ignoring Harry’s elbow digging into his ribs. They didn’t have time to be tactful - they didn’t have time for anything. 

Ailsa blushed slightly before answering. “I narrowed it down to the Boots, the Lovegoods, and the Smiths.” 

Harry glanced over at Theo. “I can’t believe that we didn’t think to ask the Lovegoods about the dreams. If anyone knows about weird memory dreams, it’s probably Luna.” 

Now who was being rude? 

Ailsa just looked confused.“Um. Hi! Sorry but I seem to have lost you there. What’s going on?”

“Right! Well, so it turns out that I’ve been having these weird dreams? Like, memories almost, of things that probably happened, but we just don’t know because I would have been too young to actually remember them, and the only other person who would know is now dead,” Harry explained slowly.

Ailsa shifted slightly. “Does that- I mean, you sound like you know who my family is.” 

Theo could practically feel Harry shrink beside him. “We have a theory. Would you like to test it?” Theo asked her, letting go of Harry's hand to pull a book from his bag. Harry looked over at him; Theo had explained the spell to him before, but he obviously hadn’t been paying attention.Even so, he wasn’t fighting Theo on it. That alone told Theo just how much Harry trusted him. 

He opened the book to the bookmarked page and read out the instructions for the ritual. Technically it was a subset of blood magic, which was illegal, but what the ministry didn’t know… 

Because it’s origins were so ancient, the statute of secrecy didn’t usually pick up on blood magic so long as you didn’t use a wand. Theo used a needle to prick Harry’s finger, then Ailsa’s. The droplets were gathered into one of the saucers from their long abandoned tea and Theo used wandless magic to cast the actual spell. He would have to look up more Armenian spells, they were far easier to cast nonverbally.

“It works similar to a muggle blood test from what I hear. It will glow the same color if you’re related,” Theo commented as he watched the blood droplets, waiting for that telltale glow. 

“I’m so confused. What do some weird dreams have to do with me maybe- probably- being a Potter? I’m going to need you to break it down for me here.” Theo ignored her questions, and Harry’s stammering as he watched the dish. “Aha!” he finally exclaimed when it finally started to glow a pale yellow. “I told you it would work Potter!”

“I never doubted you Theo,” Harry rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t hide his bright grin.

“Congrats I guess,” Theo commented to Ailsa, making no attempt to cover his own smug grin. Merlin, he loved being right. 

Ailsa’s eyed pinballed between the two of them. “How- how did you know? Merlin’s fucking underpants, this means I’m a  _ Potter _ . What the fuck.” 

Now that the news had actually sunk in, Harry didn’t look much better off. Apparently it was different, having actual proof of something vs. just knowing. 

“Well you see,” Theo started. 

Harry clamped a hand over his mouth to shut him up. “Absolutely not. I was serious about the plausible deniability thing. You may have ways of getting around veritaserum, but I don’t.” 

Theo just shrugged. Everything he had done was mostly legal, so he thought Harry’s fears were a bit unfounded, but if that was what Harry wanted, then fine. Harry started to explain everything that had led them to her, glossing over the medical record book. Theo interjected here and there to clarify things, but for the most part, he stayed silent and let Harry explain.

“That’s so much better than Moire! Maybe people will actually be able to pronounce it. I’ve always hated my name. I would have changed it ages ago if I had known that it wasn’t given to me by my mum. Do you think I could change it back? Where would I even go to do that?” Ailsa babbled in glee.

“We can check into it,” Harry told her with a smile. Part of Theo was happy that Harry was happy. Another part of him only wanted Harry to smile at him like that.

By the time Harry was done explaining, it was starting to get late, and Theo was getting restless. He knew how important this was to Harry, so he tried not to show it, but he really should have left ages before. His father was going to be furious if he was late for dinner again. Theo would never have even considered being late until he met Harry. 

“You’ll be alright here?” he finally whispered to his boyfriend. 

Harry nodded. “I’ll be fine Theo, I’ll catch a train back to Surrey. See you tomorrow, yeah?”

“Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do Potter.” He leaned over and pressed a kiss against Harry’s cheek, threw a wink at Ailsa, and escaped out the door. 


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your lovely comments! I'm terrible at responding, but know I read and appreciate all of them.
> 
> Another thanks to Susan, who doesn't let me format dialogue incorrectly.

##  Chapter 9

Harry never thought he’d be happy for Theo to leave, but he knew his boyfriend had been starting to get restless, and a restless Theo was a very bad thing. Theo’s departure left something else filling the room however: a sort of tense air that probably was natural when you were stuck in a room with the long-lost sister you hadn’t known you had until the week before. 

“Soooooo…” Ailsa started, leaning forward with a smirk. “How did _ that  _ happen?” Harry had to wonder if this was what having a sister was supposed to be like. Ginny teased Ron right? So that was normal. He didn’t recall her ever asking him about his love life though, which sort of made him think that Ailsa was probably trying to test him or something. If Ailsa was trying to get a rise out of him though, she’d picked the wrong topic. Harry loved talking about Theo and, so far, hadn’t had anyone to talk to about him.

He feigned innocence, grinning at her. “We got really,  _ really _ drunk.” 

She raised an eyebrow. “Isn’t he a Slytherin?” 

Harry winked. “I like snakes. I  _ can  _ speak Parseltongue you know.” And just like that, all of the tension that arose when Theo had left dissipated. Ailsa grinned maniacally and wiggled her eyebrows at him. Harry could only laugh; she was going to get along oh so well with Theo, and he honestly couldn’t wait. 

“What about you? Anyone in your life?” he asked her, a bit desperate for any connection to her that he could get. 

She shrugged. “Nah. Though I think being Harry Potter’s long lost sister might help the process.”

“Or hinder it,” Harry pointed out. “They really love to follow everything I do. Hermione got sent to the hospital wing because of a cursed letter she received when there was a rumor she was dating me back in fourth year.” 

She blinked at him. “People do shit like that?” 

“Apparently. Sometimes I’m tempted to just buy out the Prophet so I can fire Rita Skeeter myself.”

“So you’re rich then?” She asked, apparently latching on to that bit.

He looked at her, a bit bemused, then it occurred to him that she didn’t know about the stockpile of coins hidden away in Gringotts. “You are too, you know. Apparently our granddad invented Sleakeasy’s, so we’re super loaded. If you want, we can go to the bank and get you added to the vaults sometime. Heck, we might even be able to get Theo to come, too. He’s a weirdo who likes math.”

“We’re -  _ I’m  _ \- rich? Wait, Theo likes math? Oh my god, what kind of alien is he?” She asked. Harry just laughed.

Theo was thrilled to come with, of course.

Theo was more than thrilled to come with, and Harry couldn’t tell if it was because he was looking forward to getting to see Harry again, because Harry promised Theo that he could organize all of Harry’s financials for him, or if it was because he just really enjoyed messing with Ailsa. It could have been anything, really.

Trying to sneak off to Gringotts with both Theo and Ailsa in tow turned out to be a harder task than any of them had originally anticipated, however.

When he’d received the letter with the date for his departure from the Dursley’s, Harry expected that Dumbledore would simply show up and they would be off. Instead, he showed up and bullied the Dursleys into letting him use their living room to conduct business. Harry had apparently been written into Sirius’ will - which was unsurprising when he actually thought about it - but he knew better than to assume that just because Sirius had written him into the will, that he had legally listed him as his heir as well. Theo had given him several lectures on the difference between inheritance as an heir and inheritance as a  _ magical heir _ over the course of the summer. (Harry sometimes wondered why he liked Theo so much. He was such a nerd.)

“It is obvious that Sirius wanted you to have the house, but Black family tradition decreed that the house was passed down the direct line, to the next male with the name of ‘Black.’ Sirius was the last of his line, and while this makes it perfectly clear of Sirius’ intentions, it is very possible there is some sort of spell or enchantment that prevents you from inheriting the house,” Dumbledore said. 

Harry hummed in acknowledgement, but didn’t say anything about the fact that his statement wasn’t true at all. He and Theo had spent a  _ lot  _ of time in Theo’s library, and Theo being the swot that he was, Harry had learned more than he ever thought he wanted to know about inheritance law. Even if such an enchantment existed - which it probably didn’t, as magic didn’t give a shit about bloodlines - inheritance law would override any previous enchantments.

Not to mention, Sirius had more than simply a “reasonable amount of gold” which meant that he had probably hidden it in some offshore account somewhere. Which also meant  _ who knows _ what other assets Sirius had in his name. He would have to ask Theo how he was supposed to access them.

Dumbledore called Kreature forward as a test to see if the house was considered his, and Harry didn’t bother arguing that Kreature wasn’t tied to the house, he was tied to the family, so that wouldn’t be an accurate test anyway. He vaguely wondered if Dumbledore was intentionally leaving out facts, or if he just didn’t know as much about inheritance law as Harry’s boyfriend did.

They left the Dursley’s, via side-along apparation (which Harry did not like) and was dragged to help convince Slughorn to return to teach at Hogwarts (which Harry liked even less). Before the summer, Harry wouldn’t have thought anything of it, but now he had a little voice that sounded suspiciously like Theo in the back of his head, whispering  _ why does he never come get you out of bad situations until he needs you for something?  _ Harry supposed it didn’t matter in the end really; he was able to go to the Weasley’s after, which was all he’d been wanting - well, until Theo that was.

The Burrow was different than he remembered. More anxious. More troubled. Remus arrived for a rather gloomy birthday tea, which was spent talking about all of the people that had been found missing or dead. Hermione got hit with a punching telescope, and Harry spent a large amount of time wondering what on earth Ginny, Hermione, and Mrs. Weasley all had against Fleur. He tried to ask once, and Hermione accused him of being under her thrall. The thing was though, Harry had never really felt her thrall as much as people like Ron anyway, and he hadn’t felt it at all since he met Theo. 

He vaguely wondered if it had something to do with him being bisexual, or if it was simply because she wasn’t really his type. He would have to ask Theo sometime.

It wasn’t until the day after his birthday that the school supply letters arrived. 

“I suppose we’ll have to make a trip to Diagon Alley, then,” Mrs. Weasley tutted. “We’ll go on Saturday.” 

Harry excused himself to send a letter to Theo, who would pass on the message to Ailsa. By the time Saturday actually came along, Harry was thrumming with nervous energy. Bill handed him a bag of galleons, and mentioned that Gringotts had tightened security, but he didn’t say how. The real problem didn’t reveal itself until they were in the car on the way there.

“-and we’ll be joining up with additional security at the Leaky Cauldron too,” Mrs. Weasley was still talking about their schedule, as she had been for the last hour, and Harry had to suppress a groan. How was he supposed to meet up with Theo and Ailsa if he had to shake some ministry guards? 

As it turned out, he didn’t have to. “Hagrid?” he said, surprised to see the Hogwarts groundskeeper waiting for them. 

“Harry! Just like old times innit?” Hagrid swept him up into a hug.

Harry caught sight of Theo sitting in the corner booth over Hagrid’s shoulder. He grinned at his boyfriend and Theo gave him a small smile in return. Harry was suddenly struck by how much he had missed Theo. It hadn’t even been a week and Harry was already breathing a great sigh of relief at seeing Theo’s face. It was right after that that he caught sight of Ailsa. 

Unlike Theo, Ailsa had no reservations about waving at him and giving him a wink. Harry rolled his eyes at her before Hagrid finally let him down. 

Harry shot one last meaningful look at Theo before he followed the Weasleys outside. Harry knew as soon as the door opened that trying to shop at Madame Malkin's first was going to be an issue. Why was it always Madame Malkin’s?

“If you’re wondering what the smell is, Mother, a mudblood just walked in,” Draco sneered at them. Harry instinctively raised his wand, even though he knew that he couldn’t actually use it - not until he was back at Hogwarts at least. Hermione tugged on his sleeve as Madame Malkin stuttered about, trying to calm everyone down. 

“Who blackened your eye Granger? I’d like to send them flowers.”

“That’s quite enough!” Madame Malkin barked sharply. She turned to Narcissa. “Madame, please- ”

Narcissa Malfoy strolled from behind the clothes rack. “Put that away. If you attack my son again, you’ll find it’s the last thing you’ll ever do.” 

It was only the fact that if Theo found out he had attacked Narcissa - who was the closest thing to a mother figure Theo had left - he would never forgive him, that stayed Harry’s hand. “The only one who has been attacked here today is Hermione,  _ ma’am.  _ And if Draco has a problem with us, he should challenge us directly, not hide behind his mother. I was under the impression that pureblood etiquette was supposed to be more thorough than the etiquette Hermione and I learned, but obviously I was mistaken.”

“Why you- Ow! Watch where you’re sticking those pins woman! Mother, I don’t think I want these anymore.” Draco pulled the robes over his head and threw them at Madame Malkin’s feet with a huff. 

“You’re right Draco,” Narcissa responded, not taking her eyes off of Harry, who had finally put his wand away now that Draco was mostly done with his tantrum. Ron, however, kept his aloft. “Now that I know what sort of scum shop here, I think we’ll be better off at Twilfitt and Tatting’s.” 

Harry watched them leave with an air of resignation.  _ That could have gone better, _ he thought _ , but it could also have gone much, much worse. _

After getting fitted for their robes by a rather irate Madame Malkin, they met back up with Hagrid and continued on their way. It wasn’t until everyone else was in the Apothecary that Harry was able to duck away and find his boyfriend and sister. They were around the corner, on the side of the house, sitting at the abandoned tables that used to belong to Fortescue’s Ice Cream. 

Harry collapsed into the chair next to Theo, and hooked their ankles beneath the table. “I don’t have much time. Mrs. Weasley is on a mission, and apparently Gringotts has some outrageously long wait times.”

“So what do we do?” Ailsa asked. 

Theo looked like he was still thinking, so Harry responded. “I don’t know. Apparently I’m not allowed to go anywhere without some sort of ministry guard, which is kind of funny considering how many trips Theo and I made across the country over the summer.” 

Theo shot him a smile but continued thinking for a moment longer. “What if you had someone else request your presence? Someone outside of the house, obviously.” 

“Who would I even-” Then it occurred to him. Hadn’t Ron been talking about visiting them all afternoon? He stood up and pressed a swift kiss to Theo’s cheek. “I’ll find you guys again in a bit. I have an idea.” 

“Be careful, yeah?” Theo whispered back. Ailsa just waved pleasantly.

Harry rounded the corner again just as Hagrid turned around. “Harry! There you are! Thought you had gotten lost for a second there!” he exclaimed. “Got everything you needed?”

Harry shrugged. “I’m not taking potions this year, so I don’t need anything from here.”

“Let's move along then! Chop chop!” Mrs. Weasley called.

  
  


They were in Weasley’s Wizard Wheezes for around ten minutes before Harry was able to get the twins alone. “I need your help,” he stated as soon as they had made it into the back room. The twins turned around to face him. 

“Ickle-Harrykins-”

“Asking for our help?” they said. Harry still wondered how long it took them to master that trick.

“That’s what I said isn’t it? Look. I need to talk to the goblins about my vault at Gringotts.” The two exchanged a baffled look. 

“Wouldn’t Bill be better for that then?” Fred asked curiously.

“No. Because Dumbledore can’t find out about it, and everyone else would either tell him about it, or stop me altogether.” When they both smirked, Harry suddenly wondered if divulging this to the twins was a mistake.

“Finally decided to stop letting Dumbledore play you then, eh Harry?” George gave him a friendly shove.

“Don’t get us wrong, he’s a good chap-”

“And a great wizard-”

“He’s just got this thing-”

“Where he doesn’t believe anyone can do anything right unless he’s manipulating them.”

Harry supposed he shouldn’t have been surprised the twins had noticed, considering the sheer amount of chaos the two of them managed to leave in their wake at all times. Though, Dumbledore had always seemed to enjoy their shenanigans. He wondered how much of that was fake too.

“Right. So?” he prompted them.

“So what do you need?” they responded in unison.

“I don’t know, some reason to come back to Diagon Alley without it being suspicious?” Harry said.

The twins shared a look.“Don’t worry about it mate,” one of them said.

“We’ve got you covered!” the other finished.

“But while you’re here, take a look at this!” They said in unison, leading him through the aisles of the back room and Harry breathed a sigh of relief. Later he would have to find Ailsa or Theo and tell them the new plan, but for now, he could relax and let his friends show him their latest devices for mass chaos. 


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for vanishing off the face of the planet. I started work again like two days before I posted the last chapter, and everything just sort of spiraled from there.  
> But! I am now back to working under 50hrs a week, and am in a less shitty apartment, with roommates that don't actively hate my guts! So!  
> Anyway, here's wonderwall.

## Chapter 10

It hadn’t even been a full hour since he had seen Harry, and Theo already missed him. He wondered vaguely how it had come to this point. Six months ago, Theo would not have even noticed, let alone cared, if he didn’t see Harry for months. Other people actually giving a shit about his boyfriend’s health and safety was really cramping Theo’s style. He kind of hated himself a little bit for thinking that way though. Harry deserved all of the love and affection in the world, and Theo would never want to take that from him. But… but Theo was also selfish, and he missed spending all of his time with only Harry. 

As far as substitutes went though, Ailsa wasn’t a bad one.

“Fuck, Marry, kill: Malfoy, Zabini, Parkinson.” Ailsa sipped at her drink as they wandered around what was left of diagon alley.

“Fuck Malfoy, Marry Blaise and Kill Parkinson,” Theo decided.

“Whattttt seriously?” Ailsa squawked.

“Yeah, why?”

“Have you _seen_ Pansy Parkinson in the last year? She’s fucking hot.”

“Not my type,” Theo responded dryly. This was the fourth round of the muggle game they had played, and Theo was fairly certain that Ailsa didn’t have a type whatsoever, as her answers varied dramatically.

“Okay but fucking Malfoy? Really?”

“If the alternative is marriage, sure. At least I can spend more than a few hours with Blaise without wanting to strangle him.”

“You are far too pragmatic, Theodore. And also far too in love with my brother to make this game any fun.” 

Theo didn’t know how to define the all encompassing nature of his feelings for Harry, but he knew that trying to explain that to Ailsa would do no good, so he let the issue drop. It made him wonder though, was what he felt love? He didn’t have long to think about it before Ailsa hissed out a curse and pulled Theo behind a dumpster. He wrinkled his nose as her, but stayed silent at her frantic gesturing. 

“It’s Malfoy,” she whispered

“Speak of the devil and he shall appear,” Theo muttered back, and Ailsa had to smother a giggle. 

“Right. How’s your spying?” she asked when she had finally gathered herself.

“Alright. Yours?” Theo responded with a raised eyebrow.

“Best in my house.”

“Good enough I guess. Why are we following Malfoy?” Ailsa didn’t answer, and instead pulled a beanie out of her bag and gestured for Theo to pull it over his head. Theo rolled his eyes, but did what he was told. Ailsa pulled her own hair up into a ponytail and pulled a baseball cap out of her purse as well. “Why the fuck do you have so many hats?”

“Have to be ready for bad hair days to strike at any time, Theodore,” she stated. “Be ready, he’s on the move!” She pulled Theo up and wrapped an arm around his. 

Because no one seemed to want to be caught in the street right now, the few other shoppers in the alley were all walking at a far brisker pace than usual. Theo was only a little impressed that Ailsa was taking advantage of the fact that to speed walk after Draco. Which meant Theo was probably still underestimating Ailsa. He should probably stop. It would not be ideal for him to be caught off guard by someone he was undoubtedly going to be seeing regularly. 

Theo had a sinking feeling he knew exactly where Draco was headed. “He’s going into Knockturn Alley. Follow me, I know a back way.” He said back way, but it was more of a “top way,” as it involved them climbing up a fire escape, crawling along a ledge, and sliding down a roof. Theo was reminded of all the times he had used this way to escape from his father when he had “business” with Mr. Borgin. He was right in his assumption, as directly below him was a clear view of Borgin and Burkes. Draco’s blonde hair stood out like a beacon amongst the dark and empty street. 

“What’s he doing?” Ailsa asked as Draco entered the shop.

“Dunno. Ugh, what is that idiot up to now?”

“Wait wait wait.” Ailsa dug through her purse again, which Theo was now near positive had an extension charm on it. She pulled out a string with a whispered “yes!”

“What is-”

“Shhh!” she admonished, letting one end of the string down, and sticking the other into her ear.

Theo was bursting with questions, but he could tell Ailsa was concentrating so he remained silent. A few minutes later, Draco left the shop with a smug smile before he stormed down the street. 

“What was that about?” he asked Ailsa as soon as Draco was gone.

“He wants something fixed. Something he already has. For some reason he won’t bring it in though. Says it has to stay where it is.There’s two of them though, and he put the other one on hold. Told Borgin he wasn’t allowed to sell it. Borgin asked if he wanted to just take it with him, but Malfoy was insistent that it had to stay where it was. Said it would look weird if he took it down the street. Name dropped Fenrir Greyback. He also told Borgin not to tell anyone else about it. Including his mother.” She concluded her report and turned back to look at Theo. “Do you know what it means?”

“One minute.” Theo pulled the beanie off his head and handed it back to Ailsa before scaling his way back down to the street. He took a deep breath and plastered a sneer on his face before walking across the street to the shop.

“Oi! Borgin!” he called out as he slammed open the door. 

“Ah. Mr. Nott. What can I do for you?” Borgin was jittery. Or rather, more jittery than normal. Theo made a show of looking around the shop. If his suspicions were correct, it would still be here.

“Have you seen Draco? The fucker ran off in this direction, and your shop is the only one open.” Theo had to force himself to keep the sneer on his face. He used to be so good at pretending to be a rich snob. It was a mask that he could still slip on and off with ease, but now the mask seemed to be fraying at the edges. 

It was hard to pretend you hated everyone and everything, once you had someone you felt the exact opposite for. 

“D-Draco?” Borgin stuttered.

“Yeah. Draco Malfoy. Yay high. Blond. Pompous ass? He owes me money. If I ever figure out where the bastard went..” Theo trailed off as his eyes caught on the cabinet by the door.

Theo hadn’t seen it in years. He had been avoiding Knockturn Alley as a whole since he had started Hogwarts, and he hadn’t personally seen the Hogwarts cabinet since second year. But he thought he would probably recognize that cabinet anywhere. After all, hadn’t Theo been the one standing beside Draco when they had found Graham Montague?

Theo dragged his eyes away from the cabinet and back to Borgin. 

“Ah, Young Mr. Malfoy just left,” Borgin said

“Ugh,” Theo sneered before spinning around and leaving the way he came. 

* * *

Harry wasn’t sure how the twins had managed to get him an entire day free of supervision. Whatever they had done though, he was eternally grateful, as it meant that he had the unique opportunity to wander around muggle London with his boyfriend and sister. They would be going to Gringotts later, having secured an actual appointment with the goblins that morning, but for now, Harry was content to spend some time with his family.

Ailsa was not what Harry had expected his sister to be like. Somehow, she was both better and worse. “Why would anyone dare attack you? I mean, you’re _Harry Potter._ You defeated the Dark Lord-” 

“Voldemort,” both Harry and Theo inserted. 

She continued as if they hadn’t spoken. “- as a _baby._ You’re like, super smart and badass!”

“Theo’s the smart one. Ask anyone,” Harry told her, showing Theo the cat in his arms. Harry wasn’t quite sure why they were in the pet store in the first place, but he wasn’t about to argue. Theo shook his head, clearly saying _what would you do with a cat?_ In Theo speak.

“It’s true. I’m the smart one. Harry’s just really fucking lucky.” 

“I make my own luck,” Harry retorted

Theo shook his head. “Bullshit. You are the luckiest bastard currently on this planet.” Harry raised an eyebrow. “Don’t give me the eyebrow, Potter, if anyone else had tried even half of that shit you do at school, they would have been dead ten times over. I mean, it’s not exactly like you’re particularly talented. Do you even know a spell other than expelliarmus?” 

Harry grinned at him. “You’re so mean to me Theo.”

“I may like you, but I refuse to fuel your ego.” Harry wondered when they had moved on to actually acknowledging their feelings, but decided that with Theo, it was better to let him bring it up, than to actually address it. 

“But Theo, I’m the _Chosen One,”_ Harry reminded him with a smirk.

“Chosen for what? To be a pain in my arse? Because that’s what you’re being right now,” Theo scoffed.

“Correction, that is what I’m _not_ being right now, but I mean if you really want to- ” 

“Ew! Gross. Harry stop. I do not want to hear this!” Ailsa put her hands over her ears like a child. Harry just laughed.

Harry was almost reluctant to go to Gringotts for their appointment, after having spent the last few hours wandering around London with his family, ducking in and out of shops, and just generally making nuisances of themselves. It was rare for Harry to have so much fun. He sighed sadly as he walked up to the counter, while the goblin scowled at him. Theo and Ailsa weren’t far behind, but both of the traitors were perfectly content to let him do all the talking.

“I have an appointment. I need to key someone to the Potter vaults,” he stated. With goblins it was best to be straightforward, according to Bill. 

“This way.” The goblin led them to a smaller room, where another goblin sat at a desk. 

“Mr. Potter,” the seated goblin greeted with a sneer. 

“Good day.” Harry nodded at the goblin politely. 

“Full name and lineage of the new keyholder?”

Harry wasn't sure how to answer the question really. It was probably one of those things purebloods were taught to just know. He was near positive Theo could name all of his ancestors back to the 16th century. Maybe further. It turned out though, that Ailsa was a lot faster at panicking than he was, because she stepped forward to answer. “Ailsa Jameson - er- Potter. Daughter of James and Lily Potter.” Ailsa glanced at Harry in confirmation, he just shrugged. 

“Miss Jameson will have to prove her relation via blood test,” the goblin said. 

Ailsa sighed but held out her hand. Harry was fascinated to discover how similar Theo’s blood test was to the one they used at Gringotts. The dish where he had collected the blood was apparently connected to a piece of paper, which slowly revealed a family tree. Theo leaned on him in an effort to see it better. Harry had a feeling he was taking notes so he could replicate the spell later - whether he actually could was anyone’s guess.

“Ailsa Miriam Potter. Second child of James Fleamont Potter and Lily Joy Potter née Evans. It seems that Miss Potter is already listed as an heir to the vault. She simply has to be keyed,” the goblin intoned in a bored voice. 

Harry wondered just how far his parents had planned ahead, that they had already listed Ailsa as an heir before her birth, but he opted to think on it later. 

“As the firstborn, you can choose which of the vaults Miss Potter has access to until she comes of age,” the goblin continued. “Would you like to do so?”

Harry was surprised.“There’s more than one?”

“You have three vaults, Mr. Potter.” The goblin seemed annoyed at Harry’s incompetence, but there wasn’t much he could do about that 

“Um. Key her to all of them. I’d also like to visit all of them today if possible?” 

“As you wish.” The goblin took Ailsa’s hand and pricked her finger again, letting a few drops of blood fall on the page. It glowed for a moment before returning to normal. She sucked on her finger in obvious annoyance.

“Miss Potter is now keyed to the vaults. Will there be anything else?”

“Could we get a breakdown of Harry’s assets?” Theo asked. The goblin sneered but a scroll appeared in his hand. He handed it to Harry. 

“Ragnok, please take Mr. Potter to his vaults.” The other goblin dipped his head and led the small group out of the office.

“This is so exciting! Did you really not know that you have multiple vaults?” Ailsa rambled. 

“I was wondering that same thing,” Theo smirked at him and Harry groaned

“I was eleven and poor when I first got access to the accounts okay? It never even occurred to me that I might have more than one!” They sat down in the cart as Theo rolled his eyes and opened Harry’s scroll. 

“Merlin Harry, you have more money than I do.” Theo sounded impressed.

“I should hope so, I’ve only grabbed a handful of galleons in the six years I’ve had it, and it hadn’t been touched in the ten years before that.”

“Not strictly accurate,” Theo said, ignoring the rush of wind as they zipped along the track. 

“What?”

“It looks like Dumbledore used your personal key to take money out a few times when you were a kid.” 

“Anyone with the master key can get into it? I thought you had to be keyed through the bank?” Harry turned to look at him in shock.

“Apparently. I wasn’t aware that anyone still had master keys. My family has stored ours inside the vault for years,” Theo confirmed.

“I wonder if Hagrid still has mine? It never occurred to me to get it back since I never needed it,” Harry pondered. 

Theo ignored him to continue reading. “Hey Harry. It says you do have a manor too. See, I knew you would.”

“We have a what?” Ailsa interrupted

“A manor. Well, sort of. They call it a manor, but it’s a literal castle. Looks like it’s disguised as some sort of muggle tourist trap. That’s actually really smart.”

Harry and Ailsa looked at one another, then back to Theo.

“We have a castle?” It still baffled Harry how easily he had slipped into using plurals considering he’d only had a sister for a few weeks. 

“Apparently,” Theo said blandly.

“Anything else of interest?”

“You get a monthly deposit, looks like it’s from Sleakeasy’s, you probably get a portion of the profits because your family has the largest share,” Theo mused.

“Do you think the bank would have our parent’s will? If no one bothered to tell me about the other vaults, there’s a chance no one bothered to read their will either.” 

Theo shrugged and continued inspecting the parchment. Harry had no idea how he could read in the dim light of the lantern, but then again, Theo probably had just as much practice reading as Hermione, if not more since he hadn’t been dragged around the school fending off imminent doom for the last five years.

“Here we are,” Ragnok said and the three wizards stepped out of the cart. Harry touched the door and it swung open, allowing them to enter. Theo cast a lumos and Harry gasped at the pile of artifacts. The vault wasn’t very big, maybe 3x4 meters, but it was filled with things of value. One wall was comprised entirely of bookshelves, filled to the brim with books and loose papers. Hanging on the other were an assortment of weapons; Theo thought that some of them probably dated back to the 1600’s or earlier. There were also several shelves in the middle that were filled with boxes of what looked like jewelry.

“Holy shit,” Ailsa said. Theo had to agree with her. He hadn’t been in his vaults in ages, but he didn’t have nearly this many artifacts in his. Granted, his father liked to show off, so most of them were probably scattered around Nott Manor 

“We have two more of these?” Ailsa said, wandering around the room in awe, picking up jewelry and touching the swords. Theo wandered over to the books and noticed that most of them seemed to be journals. They were sorted by date. Theo pulled out the most recent ones. There on the front, 

_Diary of Lily Evans-Potter_

There were three diaries labelled as such, Theo wondered if that was all she had, or if those were just the ones she had placed in storage before her death. There was only one way to know, he supposed. The other two books in his hand were significantly lighter, and labelled with a very different script. 

_James Potter_

Theo checked to see if there were more of them, but it seemed like those were the only journals Harry’s father had written. Theo wondered if the rest of James’ journals were stored at the Potter Manor. It would make sense considering that James most likely didn’t grow up in the Godric’s Hollow house, and Theo figured that the last thing on your mind when moving was your old journals. 

Theo wondered how much effort it would take to reclaim the Manor from whatever bank or distant muggle relative that had acquired it after the Potter’s deaths. Hopefully they hadn’t sold any of the artifacts inside, or it could potentially take months to track them all back down. Theo would also have to get all of Harry’s investments in order. Sleakeasy’s was great as a main income, but it wasn’t good to throw all of one’s money in one pot. Harry was going to be even richer than Draco by the time he was done with this account. It would be good practice for when he took over his father’s business.

 _I really should go into banking instead_ , Theo thought, as he scanned the rest of the journals. Theo had always been good at Arithmancy, and even better at managing people - he had grown up with Draco after all. Somehow, Harry’s neglected accounts seemed far more interesting than any of the homework at Hogwarts, which he still passed with all O’s even so. 

“What’ve you got there Theo?” Harry asked, coming up behind him. Theo showed him silently, still working out numbers in his head. He really should find another pastime if he was bored enough to take on Harry’s accounts. Maybe he could start advising on the side or something. Make a name for himself before even leaving Hogwarts. Draco would be jealous.

“Diaries?”

“Apparently” Theo turned to actually look at his boyfriend. Harry’s fac was hidden in shadow but Theo could tell he wasn’t handling this recent development very well. Theo wrapped his hand around Harry's, lacing their fingers together as soon as Harry opened his hand. Harry gave him a soft smile and squeezed his fingers in return. “Come on Potter, we should go see what’s in the other two vaults.”

  
  



End file.
